


The Curiosity of George

by Sonny_April



Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Adorable Georgie Denbrough, Alive Georgie Denbrough, Alternate Universe - No Pennywise (IT), Brother Feels, Brotherhood, Brotherly Affection, Brotherly Bonding, Brotherly Love, Brothers, Drabble, Drabble Collection, Fluff, Gen, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-24
Updated: 2019-08-01
Packaged: 2019-08-06 19:48:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 26,877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16394000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sonny_April/pseuds/Sonny_April
Summary: A collection of drabbles focusing mostly on Bill and Georgie, although the other Losers are here, too. There's no It in this AU, so Georgie is alive and well. These are very fluffy and sugary, so I apologize in advance if I cause anyone to get cavities or diabetes.





	1. Monsters

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome, all! This is my new fanfiction. It's not going to be one big story like my other ones, but rather just a collection of short drabbles; some longer than others.
> 
> I love all the characters from the 2017 It movie, but I especially loved Bill and Georgie's relationship. Even if it wasn't onscreen for very long, you could feel that bond they shared all throughout the film. So, this collection is going to be mostly dedicated to them, although the other Losers will be here, too, and I may focus on some of them in future stories. These are going to be very laid back and slice of life; no It here. If that's not what you want from an It fanfic, I don't blame you, but maybe look elsewhere XD
> 
> I have the first four shorts written, and will post them all relatively close to each other. These first four will be published in chronological order, but after that, I can't promise they will be in chronological order. But either way, it won't matter much. Like I said, there's no big, overarching story here.
> 
> If you guys have any ideas for drabbles, just let me know; I'll be sure to consider them :)

Bill was lifted out of his dream by a soft but familiar voice.

“Billy? Billy. Wake up.”

In the doorway of his bedroom stood the small figure of his brother. He stood there in his dinosaur pajamas, clutching his favorite stuffed turtle toy.

“G-G-Georgie? Something wrong?” Bill murmured as he sat himself up in his bed and turned on the lamp on his nightstand. The room was suddenly enveloped in a warm, brotherly light.

“There are monsters in my room. I’m scared to go back in there.”

“Georgie, there’s n-n-no such thing as monsters.” Bill said this not in a condescending tone, but in a sweet cadence of reassurance.

“But there are, Billy! You can’t see them. Or smell them. Or sometimes can’t hear them. But I can feel them. Feel them…without touching them. I guess it sounds stupid when I say it out loud.”

Bill realized trying to convince Georgie otherwise about the existence of monsters wouldn’t help in this situation. A different approach would be needed to comfort his brother. “Well, then, come sleep with me.” He patted the empty spot on the bed next to him. “I’ll protect you from the m-m-monsters.”

“You will?” Georgie meekly asked, making his way toward Bill’s bed.

“I’ll make sure of it. I’m not letting a-a-any monsters get in this room. And if they do, I’m g-g-gonna kick their butts before they can h-hurt a single h-hair on your head!”

Georgie giggled at this, his spirits lifted almost instantly. He climbed into bed and lifted the blanket over his body. “Thanks, Billy. You’re the best big brother ever.”

“Only because y-y-you’re the best little brother ever,” Bill said as he switched the lamp off. Georgie whimpered slightly at the newly emerged darkness that had invaded the room. “Hey, it’s okay, Georgie. Remember w-w-what I said? So long as you’re with me, I’ll m-m-make sure you’re perfectly safe from the monsters.”

“Right. Okay,” Georgie said, trying to maintain some semblance of bravery and confidence. “Goodnight, Billy.”

“Goodnight.”


	2. Rainy Afternoon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the opening sequence of the film, but since Pennywise isn't here, things go a bit...differently for Georgie.

“Sure I won’t get in trouble, Bill?” Georgie asked as he gazed out the window on this rainy afternoon.

“Don’t be a w-w-wuss,” Bill responded from his bed, still dressed in his pajamas and wearing his robe. Used, crumpled tissues were littered all around him as he completed folding a paper boat made from his sketchbook paper. “I’d come with you if I weren’t,” Bill coughed, “dying.”

“You’re not dying!” Georgie said frustratedly.

“You didn’t see the v-v-vomit coming out of my nose this morning?”

“That’s disgusting.”

“Okay, go get the wax.”

“In the cellar?” Georgie asked a little nervously.

“You want it to f-f-float, don’t you?”

“Fine,” Georgie said, audibly exasperated.

Georgie grabbed his walkie-talkie from Bill’s table, then made his way downstairs.

Bill wrote “SS Georgie” on the paper boat with a black marker, per the request of his little brother. He had encouraged Georgie to come up with a more imaginative name, but the younger insisted that the boat be named after him.

Georgie passed by the parlor, where his mother played an eerie tune on the grand piano. Sharon Denbrough always started to play creepier pieces around this time of year, and Georgie hated it. It filled the house with an unsettling atmosphere, which certainly didn’t help when he had to do tasks such as going down into the cellar.

Speaking of which, once Georgie entered the kitchen, he was met with the sight of that terrible doorway. The doorway that had seemingly eternal darkness lurking behind it. The doorway that acted as the entry point to It’s lair. Georgie didn’t really know what It was, but perhaps it was better that way. It was whatever Georgie could imagine the worst—an amalgamation of everything he ever feared. And it was right behind this door, waiting for him.

Georgie creaked open the door and entered the dark abyss. He stared down on those creaky, olden steps that led deeper into the basement. The steps that It was hiding underneath, ready to grab Georgie’s ankles with its monstrous claws.

“Georgie, hurry up!” Bill said over the walkie-talkie, startling Georgie.

Georgie went over to the light switch—the vanquisher of It. One flip of the switch, and the basement would be purged from the evils of It’s darkness, providing a clear path for the small boy. But Georgie flipped the switch, and nothing happened. He flipped it again—still nothing. Shoot. When was the last time someone replaced the lightbulbs down here?

“I’m brave. I’m brave. I’m brave,” Georgie repeatedly whispered to himself as he started to slowly make his way down the steps. It was a trick Bill had taught him to do whenever he felt scared, and if Bill said it would work, then gosh darn it, it would work.

Once at the lower level, Georgie scanned the shelves of old supplies. “Where’s the wax?” he whispered. Finally, he found the box of Gulf Wax. It was beside a kinda creepy-looking bust of an old lady. That’s a bit odd.

Georgie turned to head back up the stairs when…what’s that? Two softly glowing orbs shimmered in the darkest corner of the basement. They looked like two leering, yellow eyes. Is that…could it be…it couldn’t…could it? The It of Georgie’s worst nightmares? Georgie grabbed the nearby flashlight and shined it into the corner. Oh, thank God; it’s only the reflection of a couple lightbulbs. See? Maybe Bill’s right; maybe there is no such thing as monsters.

Suddenly, an uproarious thunder clap startled Georgie, causing him to break into a sprint up the steps and out of the dreaded cellar.

Georgie let out a relieved sigh as he slammed the basement door behind him. He was out! He did it! And if there were ever such thing as It, then he conquered it! Now it was time to join Bill upstairs to finish making his boat.

The younger Denbrough wrapped his arm around the shoulders of the elder as he watched his big brother coat the paper boat with wax using a brush.

“Alright,” Bill said as he placed the brush down. “There you go!” He placed the boat in Georgie’s hands. “Sh-sh-she’s all ready, captain!”

“She?” Georgie asked curiously.

“You always call b-b-boats ‘she’.”

“She. Thanks, Billy!” Georgie said as he enveloped Bill in a warm hug. He squeezed tightly, then broke out in a fit of giggles. Georgie grabbed his walkie-talkie, then said, “See you later! Bye!” as he happily skipped out of Bill’s room.

Bill walked up to his bedroom window and looked down on his brother below, clad in his yellow, hooded raincoat as he cheerfully waved up at him. “Be careful,” Bill said into the walkie-talkie.

The SS Georgie was set on the river gushing down the gutters of Derry, and her honorable captain dutifully followed her on her maiden voyage. This was the most fun Georgie had in quite a while—beats being cooped up inside the house all day while Billy is sick in bed. The little captain laughed and splashed around in the river with his green galoshes as he chased his boat.

He followed his vessel all along Witcham Street, past all the houses of his neighborhood. The little ship then flowed underneath two bright orange sawhorses labeled “DERRY PUBLIC WORKS”. Georgie ducked underneath the first one and kept his eyes locked on the boat. Unfortunately, that meant he didn’t see the second sawhorse, and he smacked his head right against it, causing him to fall on his back against the asphalt.

Georgie rubbed his forehead as his head went a little fuzzy for a moment. But he couldn’t stay lying down for too long; his boat was sailing away without him! A large mound in the street caused the river flow in the gutters to cut across the street diagonally to the other side’s gutters. Georgie dashed across the street to the other side to catch up with his boat.

But that wasn’t all; the boat was heading straight towards a storm drain! Georgie continued to run after her, but she was too fast. She momentarily got caught on a rock, giving Georgie a little bit of hope that he could catch up to her, but she broke free again, only to be swallowed up by the storm drain, instantly dashing all of his hopes.

“Nooo!” Georgie cried upon the sight of his boat falling to her doom deep within the bowels of the Derry sewers. “No!” Georgie repeated as he got on his knees to look inside the the storm drain. “Bill’s gonna kill me!” Georgie peered further into the darkness. A part of him wondered why he even bothered—he knew that boat wouldn’t be coming back. And even if it was somehow stuck down there, it’s too dark to see anything, and it’s too deep for Georgie to even be able to reach it. “Oh, well,” Georgie said as he got up and made his way back home. So much for the SS Georgie’s maiden voyage. She’s in the ranks with the Titanic now.

When Georgie arrived back home, his mother was in the kitchen preparing to cook dinner. Great! She won’t even notice he was gone! He took off his raincoat, then crept back upstairs.

“Hey, Bill,” Georgie said as he stood in the doorway to Bill’s room.

“G-G-Georgie! What happened?” Bill asked from his bed.

“The boat was too fast. I tried to catch up to her, but she fell into the sewers. Please don’t be too mad at me, Bill.”

“Georgie,” Bill said, mildly frustrated. “That boat must not have even lasted you five minutes. How did it get so far ahead of you?”

“Well…to tell you the truth…I bumped my head on a sign. That’s how it got so far ahead. I know, I’m stupid. You don’t have to say it.”

Bill sighed. “I wasn’t g-g-going to say that. It’s okay, we all m-m-make mistakes. Is your head alright?”

“I think so?”

“Here, let me see.”

Georgie walked up to Bill, and the older sibling brushed aside the younger’s hair to inspect his forehead. “Looks okay to me,” Bill declared. “Well, n-n-now what? You’ve got nothing t-t-to do now.”

“Hmm,” Georgie thought for a moment to think of something to do. “Can we draw together, Bill?”

Bill contemplated this, but ultimately decided, “Yeah, okay, sure.” Truthfully, Bill wanted to be alone. That’s why he had made the boat in the first place. But now that the boat was a bust, Bill felt a responsibility to keep his brother happy, even if it meant sacrificing some alone time. “You want to g-g-go get your crayons? I can let you use s-s-some of my sketchbook paper.”

“Alright!” Georgie ran back into his own room to fetch his box of crayons. There was nothing like spending quality time with Bill to make a rainy day seem just a little bit sunnier.


	3. Larry

“Let’s get a reeeeal big one!” Georgie chirped in glee as he skipped and trotted through the pumpkin patch. “I wanna carve a big smile on his face!”

“Not t-t-too big, Georgie. Otherwise we w-w-won’t even be able to carry it back home,” Bill said calmly as he casually perused the autumn gourds.

“You like this one?” Bill asked, holding up a white pumpkin.

Georgie stared blankly at it. “Mmm, I don’t know. A white one? Pumpkins are supposed to be orange.”

“Yeah, normally. But that’s what makes th-this one unique.”

“Nah.”

Bill shrugged and placed the white pumpkin back in its place. “Okay. You’re the pumpkin picker here.”

As Georgie continued to browse the patch, he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around and saw his brother holding a large, orange pumpkin covered in ugly, bulbous warts.

“Wanna get this one, Georgie?” Bill asked while trying to hold down his laughter, knowing what his brother’s response would be, but wanting to humor him anyways.

“Ew, no, get that thing away from me!”

“What? It’s orange, just like you wanted!”

“Orange with _no warts_!”

“Oohh, okay, _now_ you tell me,” Bill said as he placed the pumpkin back, laughing.

“How ‘bout this one?” Georgie carried with him a medium-sized pumpkin—a little large for a boy of such small stature, but not too large for Bill that he couldn’t carry it for a few blocks. It was a plump, round shape with a brilliant orange hue and a clear complexion—no warts.

After a not-too-long walk back home, being careful not to drop their precious pumpkin to splatter all over the sidewalk, their autumn crop was brought to the kitchen, ready to be carved into a good old jack-o’-lantern.

“Now, we open up zhe cranium!” Bill bellowed in a faux German accent as he punctured the top of the gourd with a carving knife. Richie was normally the one with the wacky voices in their group, but Georgie liked it when Bill did them, too. He carved a circle around the stem of the pumpkin, then opened it up. “Und now, ve remove zhe brains!” Bill scooped up a large handful of pumpkin innards and threw them on Georgie’s lap, who was currently sitting on the kitchen counter.

Georgie shrieked in surprise, followed by, “Eeeeww, Billy!” as he giggled in a mix of disgust and excitement. He scooped up the innards himself and threw them back at his brother—some sticking to his shirt, while most of it plopped down onto the kitchen floor.

“Oooo, mom’s gonna get m-m-mad at you for making a mess!” Bill said with a wide grin on his face.

“Oh, calm down, Billy; I’ll clean it up. Besides, I wouldn’t have made the mess if you didn’t throw it at me!”

“Whatever. Are we g-g-gonna carve the pumpkin or not?”

After scooping the rest of the inside of the pumpkin clean, both the brothers worked together to bring the pumpkin to life: Georgie drew the design of the pumpkin’s face with a marker, and Bill carved out the face with the knife, since Georgie couldn’t use the knife himself, of course. Mom said so.

The end result was a jack-o’-lantern with one eye larger than the other, a crooked nose, and a wide, gaping smile. Sure, it had its imperfections, but in the Denbrough brothers’ eyes, that’s what gave it its heart.

“Let’s name ‘im Larry!” Georgie proposed.

“Larry? Why L-Larry?”

“I dunno,” Georgie shrugged. “He just looks like a Larry.”

Bill lightly giggled. “Okay, Larry it is.”

Larry was fed a candlestick and placed out on the Denbrough porch, ready to ward off any evil spirits that may approach their house on All Hallows’ Eve.


	4. Trick-or-Treat

Eddie heard the knock at his front door, signaling the arrival of Richie Tozier, his reluctantly-declared best friend.

"Eddie-bear, your friend is here!" Eddie's mom called from her well-worn recliner in the living room.

"I hear him, Ma, thanks," Eddie shouted back from his room. Eddie put the finishing touches on his costume—meaning he put on the latex gloves, strapped on the medical mask, and fit the surgical cap over his hair.

Eddie rushed to yank open the front door, but was stopped in his tracks by his mother just before he could do so, "Eddie, aren't you forgetting something?"

"Oh, right, Ma," Eddie said as he straddled over to give his mom a kiss on her cheek.

"Stay safe, dear. Don't stay out too late, and don't eat any candy or food given to you by strangers."

"But the whole point of trick-or-treating is to eat free candy from strangers."

"Eddie," Mrs. Kaspbrak said sternly, "you won't regret it when all your friends get poisoned or get razor blades in their mouths and you're the only healthy one left."

"Ma, that's not gonna- "

"It's always better to be safe than sorry, dear."

"Yes, Mama."

Eddie walked out the door, with one last "Goodbye" uttered from his mother.

"There you are, Eds. What took you so long?" Richie asked, fully costumed as Freddy Krueger from the  _Nightmare on Elm Street_  movies—he had the striped shirt, the clawed glove, the hat, only missing the facial makeup.

"Nothin', just had to finish up putting on my costume."

"Yeah, what the fuck are you dressed up as?"

"I'm a surgeon, Richie! They're very important members of our society. Without them- "

"Who gives a fuck about that? Eddie, whatever happened to you dressing up as Jason? Isn't that what we agreed on?"

" _You_  agreed with yourself on that; I never said anything."

"C'mon, Eds, surgeons aren't scary. Or at least not normal surgeons. Maybe if you were some bloody, fucked-up zombie surgeon…"

"Not every Halloween costume has to be scary."

"But the best ones are!"

"And don't call me Eds!"

"Whatever. Let's get to Bill's already! That's where we're all meeting up."

Eddie and Richie each got on their bikes and started their way towards Bill Denbrough's house. On the way there, Eddie continued his defense of his choice of costume, "Besides, Richie, I already had most of this stuff lying around my house. It was just convenient. My mom always keeps a stash of gloves and face masks around, 'cause, y'know, germs. And this cap is just her shower cap."

"So not only did you not get a scary costume, but you're lazy, too? Wooow."

"Shut up."

"And you're wearing your mom's shower cap? Hope you don't get lice!"

"My mom doesn't have lice!"

"That's not what she told me when I fucked her!"

"Sometimes I really wonder how I don't go insane with you around."

Once Richie and Eddie made it the Denbrough household, they were met with Stan waiting outside, dressed in clothes he'd be seen in on any other day.

"What the fuck, Stan? Why didn't you dress up?" Richie asked.

"I am dressed up. As myself. I didn't feel like wearing a costume."

"Why not?" Richie asked further.

"I couldn't think of what to dress up as. Besides, I'd look stupid."

"Uh, Stan? Hello?  _Everyone_  is wearing a costume tonight. We  _all_  look stupid! Now you look more stupid than the rest of us for  _not_  dressing up."

"Forget it. Let's just get Bill," Stan said, slightly annoyed.

Richie rang the doorbell for the Denbroughs' house. Once. Twice. Thrice.

"That's enough, Richie! I'm sure he hears you!" Eddie said.

Bill opened the door, completely clad in Dracula garb—the suit, the cape, the slicked back hair, the fangs.

"Big Bill goin' as Old Drac once again!" Richie declared in a cheery fashion.

"Well, yeah, i-i-it's a classic! Can't go wrong with the c-c-classics." As Bill walked out on the porch, he turned back and yelled into the house, "C'mon, Georgie, we're leaving now!"

Georgie came out shortly thereafter dressed in a pink bunny costume and holding a plastic pumpkin bucket for candy.

"Who invited the pipsqueak?" Richie asked.

"I did," Bill said matter-of-factly. "He's m-m-my brother, Rich."

"Really? You're gonna go as a bunny, George? That's not scary at all."

"I didn't want to dress up as something scary," Georgie said. "I don't want to scare anybody."

"But scarin' people is one of the best parts about Halloween," Richie said. "You know, besides the free candy."

"Well, I don't think it's very nice to scare people," Georgie replied innocently.

"Believe me, I could dress you up in the scariest costume imaginable, and you still wouldn't be able to scare anybody, George!" Richie said, cracking up at his own statement. "So you got nothing to worry about."

Georgie huffed and put his hands on his hips in response to Richie's remark, staring daggers at him.

"Hey, Ben's here!" Stan announced, and the group made their way towards the new arrival.

Bill lowered himself to Georgie's level and told him softly, "D-d-don't listen to Richie, Georgie. We don't take a-a-anything he says seriously. That's why we call him the Trashmouth."

Georgie giggled at this, but still couldn't shake off the feeling of insecurity and embarrassment.

Ben came covered from head to toe in "bandages".

"The Mummy!" Richie shouted. "We got another classic over here!"

"Yeah," Ben replied quietly. "It was pretty easy. Just needed a lot of toilet paper. I did some research on actual mummies from Ancient Egypt, too. They're actually pretty interesting. The Ancient Egyptians believed that a person's body had to be preserved in order for them to move on to the afterlife. And in the mummification process, they actually removed all of their internal organs. That is, except for the heart, since- "

"Hey, yeah, that's nice and all, but, uh…Molly's here," Richie said as he pointed behind Ben. Ben obediently shut up and turned around.

And of course, by "Molly", Richie meant Molly Ringwald. And by "Molly Ringwald", Richie meant Beverly. She was dressed in a short, black dress and a black, pointed witch hat.

"Hey, guys, how's it goin'?" Beverly said as she joined the group. "Sorry if my costume's not much; this is all I could manage to get."

"T-t-that's okay, Bev. You look great," Bill said.

"Thanks, Bill. So do you. You all look great, actually!"

"Really? Even Stan?" Richie pointed out. "He's not even wearing a costume!"

Beverly laughed at Richie's dramatics. "By the way, my dad doesn't even know I'm out with you guys."

"He doesn't?" Ben asked. "Then where does he think you are?"

"I told 'im I was going to Gretta Keene's Halloween party!"

"But Gretta hates you," Richie said.

"He doesn't know that."

"Good point."

Georgie was slightly startled when he heard a loud "Boo!" come from behind him in conjunction with a pair of furry claws wrapping around his waist. He looked over his shoulder and was met with the mangy, toothy face of a werewolf. But the beastly face was torn off by its own claws to reveal the face of Mike Hanlon. The monstrous head of the werewolf was nothing more than a rubber mask.

"Mike! Don't scare me like that!"

"Sorry, Georgie," Mike said genuinely. "I was just playin' around."

"Hey, glad you could m-m-make it, Mike!" Bill said.

"Glad I could be here!" Mike replied. "So, we ready for some trick-or-treating?"

"We've all got our pillowcases in hand, I think that's a good indication to start," Ben said.

The first house they went up to had a scarecrow sitting out on a bench beside the front door. All the Losers walked straight up to the door with ease, but Georgie stayed back near the sidewalk.

"C'mon, Georgie," Bill said. "What's the matter?"

"That." Georgie pointed towards the scarecrow. "I know he's just a guy pretending to be a scarecrow, but then he's gonna pop up and scream when we don't suspect it."

"Georgie, you got nothing to worry about with these guys," Richie said. He walked up to the guy pretending to be a scarecrow and kicked him straight in the balls. The guy moaned in pain as he toppled over the side of the bench. "See? What'd I tell you?"

This caused a burst of laughter to bubble up from Georgie as a smile curled up his face.

Everyone got their candy from the first house, then carried on their way to the next one, the "scarecrow" still curled up in a ball on the ground, clutching his crotch.

The next house they came to was teeming with screams, shrieking laughter, and preteens with terrified expressions on their faces.

"What's going on here?" Stan asked.

"This is the Corcoran's place," Eddie answered. "They always set up a haunted house in their garage every year."

"The best haunted house in the neighborhood!" Richie said. "Every year, they somehow manage to make it even scarier than the last!"

Some of the Losers glanced nervously at each other in response to Richie's description. They were desperately hoping he wouldn't want any of them to go inside. But…

"So? You guys up for it?"

"No!" Georgie said, panicking. "No, I don't wanna go in there!  _Please_ , don't make me go in there, Billy!  _Please_!"

"That's okay, Georgie, you don't have to come with us if you don't want to," Bill replied calmly.

"I can stay out here to watch Georgie while you guys go inside!" Stan said without a beat of hesitation.

"No, I don't want you to go in there, Billy!" Georgie urged as his eyes started to well up with tears.

"It's okay, Georgie, I'm going to be safe; it's all fake."

"Please! Don't go!" Georgie cried.

Bill looked at all the other Losers solemnly. "C'mon, guys. Let's go. Let's not exclude Georgie. He's part of the group, too."

As the group made their way to the next house, Richie complained, "Bill, I wanted this to be a fun night out with the group. I didn't want to babysit as we go to the tamest houses in the neighborhood!"

"I know," Bill told Richie quietly, not wanting Georgie to hear this conversation, "but I just want my brother to be happy. I don't want him to get scarred for life or anything."

"But that's what Halloween is all about, Bill! It'll maybe even toughen him up a little bit. Lord knows he needs it."

"R-R-Richie, just s-s-stop. Don't talk about my brother. Please."

"Okay, okay, jeez. Just tryin' to help, Big Bill."

"Well, thank you, but you're not."

The next house was relatively tame compared to the first two—just a couple of jack-o'-lanterns, some spiderwebs strung over the doorway, and some gravestones out on the lawn.

"You can do this house, right Georgie?" Bill asked.

"Uh-huh," Georgie responded succinctly.

The Losers went up and rang the doorbell. A man came out with a bowl of candy and handed a piece out to each of them after the routine "Trick-or-treat!" was uttered.

The seven older kids then made their way back to the sidewalk and continued onto the next house. That is until they heard a frustrated, high-pitched voice call out, "Wait for me!" Georgie came trudging along behind them, his little bunny feet shuffling back and forth in quick succession. "You guys left without me!"

"Sorry, Georgie," Bill apologized as he took his brother's hand with his own.

The group traveled to about a dozen or so houses more when Georgie's bucket started getting a little too heavy to carry. "Billy, can I keep my candy in your pillowcase? My bucket's full."

"Sure, Georgie." The younger Denbrough sibling proceeded to dump the contents of his pumpkin bucket into the elder's pillowcase, making the bucket empty once again.

"You filled your bucket  _already_?!" Eddie questioned.

"Yeah, how'd that happen?" Richie asked. "I have barely enough candy to cover the bottom of my pillowcase."

"I don't know, they just give me a lot of candy," Georgie answered honestly.

Richie glanced at Georgie's candy stash within Bill's pillowcase. "Damn, they're giving you all the good stuff, too! I'm gettin' all the crappy candy."

"Yeah, same here," Beverly said.

"At least you guys are actually getting candy," Stan said. "Most of the houses don't give anything to me."

"That's because you're not wearing a costume, Staniel," Richie replied flatly. "Go figure." He then turned his attention back towards Georgie. "Alright, George, what's your secret?"

"I don't know! Honest!"

"Okay, we'll see about that. At the next house."

Said next house was adorned with orange Halloween lights all around the rim of the house, and paper decorations of bats and black cats were pasted along the wall of the porch. It was here that Richie's investigation was put into motion. The Losers all got their candy first, then when it was Georgie's turn to get candy, they all hid behind a corner of the house and watched the scene unfold.

"Trick-or-treat!" Georgie exclaimed.

"Aaawww! Aren't you just the cutest little thing!" the woman at the door said in a baby voice. "Here you go, cutie pie!" she said as she dropped about six or seven fun-sized candy bars into Georgie's bucket.

"She's playing favorites!" Richie loudly whispered. "They  _all_  are!  _That's_  why Georgie's been getting more candy than anyone else! Maybe him wearing that stupid bunny costume wasn't such a dumb idea after all."

"Oh, well," Ben said. "He's a kid. Just let him have it."

"No! If I'm gonna be stuck babysitting, I at least want my proper pay in candy!"

Georgie then came skipping around the corner in childish glee. "Oh, there you guys are! I thought you just ran off from me, like you always do."

"Sooo, that's your strategy, huh? Play up the old 'cute card'. I'm on to you, George," Richie said.

"What? What are you talking about?" Georgie asked, confused.

"Forget him, Georgie," Beverly said. "Richie's just being a whiny grump."

"Am not! I just want to get the proper amount of candy that I deserve."

"Then you should really be gettin' no candy at all!" Mike said, snickering.

"Very funny," Richie deadpanned.

After five more houses, Georgie was already at the halfway mark in his bucket.

"Are you kidding me?!" Richie cried out. "Georgie, if you're getting more candy than all the rest of us, can you at least share it?"

"Hmmm…nope!" Georgie said gleefully.

"Come on! You already have enough candy to last you a year! My stash won't even last me into December."

"Well, that's too bad for you. But I earned my candy, so I'm keeping it all."

"Earned it? You literally didn't do anything to get it expect look cute! Which you don't even have to  _try_  to do!"

"Why, thank you, Richie! I appreciate the compliment!" Georgie said. Beverly chuckled.

Richie rolled his eyes. "Okay. How 'bout this: this next house, you'll go in front, instead of the back like you usually are. Then, when they see your 'preciousness', they'll be so moved that they'll give  _all_  of us more candy!"

"It's worth a shot, I guess," Georgie said.

"Trick-or-treat!" the gang said in unison as the door to the next house opened. Georgie was front and center with his pink bunny costume and beaming smile plastered on his face.

The old lady who answered the door said, "Oh, how cute!" with a wrinkly smile rising up her face. She seemed to be speaking to Georgie in particular when she said, "Such a lovely costume you have!" The woman then glanced at the older kids, and her smile fell. "Aren't you all a little old to be doing this?" The enthusiasm she expressed in her voice prior was not present in this statement. She then proceeded to give only one piece of candy to everyone, including Georgie.

Once she closed the door on them, they began to walk away from the house, and Richie said somewhat loudly, "That bitch! She  _still_  only gave us one piece of candy! Even with the cute one at the front, clear as day! She hated us! Well, all except  _Georgie_."

"Hey, don't look at me! She only gave me one piece of candy, too! Thanks a lot, Richie; your stupid plan made me get less candy than I normally get."

"Oh, big deal," Richie dismissed with a wave of his hand. "Hey, you really should be grateful, though; this candy she gave us is utter crap! The less you have of it, the better."

"Yeah, what even is this?" Eddie asked in disgust.

"Probably old caramels she had sitting around in her house for decades," Stan said.

"Why do old people always give out the worst candy?" Richie said. "When will they learn?"

"M-m-maybe they do it on purpose," Bill said. "Maybe they just r-r-really hate kids."

The next house they went to was in a cul-de-sac. As usual, the older Losers went in front of Georgie to collect their candy first. By the time Georgie got the chance to go up to the door and yell, "Trick-or-treat!" the others were already on their way back on the street.

The man at the door dropped a handful of assorted candies into Georgie's bucket, and the small boy politely said, "Thank you," in response. But when Georgie turned around to start walking away, he was met with a looming dark figure before him, at the threshold between the sidewalk and the beginning of the pathway to the front door. It was a towering, grim reaper-like being—with a skull for a face and a long, black robe that reached the ground. Georgie gulped. His heart started pounding rapidly. There's no way he's going back straight ahead. He'd have to take a side route.

Georgie looked to his left and saw a creepy ghost hanging from a clothing line, ebbing and wavering in the wind, looking for its next victim to haunt. Can't go that way. Georgie looked to his right and saw a mean-looking werewolf, bearing his razor-sharp teeth, looking like he might enjoy Georgie as a tasty evening dessert. Yummy, sweet, little boy. Can't go that way, either. Georgie's heart started pounding even faster as he realized his options were limited. Maybe the friendly man at the door could help him out?

"Uh oh, looks like your trapped!" The man at the door said, chuckling as he closed the door on Georgie. Some help he was. Why, oh, why did Bill and the others always have to run off without him? Why did they always have to leave him alone, ripe for the monsters' pickings? The three ominous figures all continued to stare at Georgie, threatening eyes lingering on the tiny morsel that he was.

Finally, Georgie mustered up as much bravery as he could. "I'm brave. I'm brave. I'm brave," he repeated quietly to himself. Georgie would just have to pick the lesser of three evils. That ghost doesn't look  _quite_  as bad as the others. Georgie would just have to run between it and the grim reaper.

Georgie took a deep breath, then dashed as fast as his little bunny feet would carry him diagonally across the lawn between the ghost and the grim reaper, screaming as loudly as he could while doing so. He did it! He made it back onto the black asphalt of the cul-de-sac! But Georgie's relief was short-lived, as when he turned around, he noticed that the large, robed figure was now following him, making his way towards him! No, this can't be happening! This doesn't happen in real life! It only happens in those scary movies that Bill watches. Right? Georgie saw the older kids up ahead in the distance, so he once again made a mad dash as he shrieked in terror—this time, running towards the Losers while simultaneously running away from the eerie, dark stalker.

"Billy!" Bill turned around at the sound of his little brother screaming his name, and he was met with Georgie running straight up to him with tears in his eyes. Georgie grabbed tightly around his brother's waist and said, "It's coming to get me, Billy! It's coming for me!"

"What is?"

"That!" Georgie pointed to the tall grim reaper.

"That? It's j-j-just a costume, Georgie," Bill placated.

The hooded figure took off its skull face, revealing a regular human face, and the cloak was lifted to reveal two teenagers underneath—one sitting on the shoulders of the other. That's why he had seemed so tall.

"Sorry," the teen on top said. "We didn't mean to scare you  _that_  bad."

Georgie wiped his tears away as he started to calm down. He said to Bill, "You left me alone with the monsters. You  _always_  leave me behind."

"I'm sorry, G-G-Georgie. We won't do it again."

"Give me a break," Richie said. "Why do you gotta be such a scaredy cat all the time, George? Your big brother's not always going to be there to protect you your whole life."

"It's okay, Georgie, d-d-don't listen to Richie. He's just been in a b-b-bad mood this whole night."

"No, he's right," Georgie said glumly.

"Why don't we just g-g-go home? I think we've ha-had enough for one night."

Georgie nodded in response.

On their way back, the group passed by the Corcoran's haunted house again. Georgie stopped in front of it.

"Georgie, come on," Bill said. "D-d-don't you want to go home?"

"I wanna go in there," Georgie said.

"What?! What are you talking about?" Eddie said in confusion.

"Yeah, I thought you didn't want to go in there," Ben added.

"I know, but…I want to prove that I'm not a scaredy cat. I want to prove that I'm brave."

Bill looked at Richie with a face that said,  _You know this is all your fault, right?_

"A-a-are you sure, Georgie? It's going to be really scary in there."

"I'll be okay, Bill. You'll see."

"Well, let's go in, I g-g-guess," Bill said. "Let's  _all_  go. For Georgie." All the Losers made their way into the entrance of the haunted house, with Georgie at the front of the line.

"How did I get dragged into this?" Stan questioned quietly to himself.

Bill grabbed ahold of Georgie's little hand, but Georgie slipped it out from Bill's grasp.

The haunted house started off as a long, narrow hallway, completely pitch black. "I'm brave. I'm brave. I'm brave," Georgie repeated softly. Suddenly, Georgie felt a hand grab him by the ankle, and he was pulled up against the wall! Another hand grabbed his shoulder! Another grabbed his arm! He could hear the otherworldly moans and cries of the lost souls whom these hands belonged to. Georgie yelled a high-pitched screech as he writhed out from the grasp of the hands.

"G-G-Georgie!" Bill cried out. "Are you alright?"

"I can't see a damn thing in here!" Mike said.

"I think that's point, Mikey," Richie said in a wisecracking tone.

But Georgie didn't hear the others. All his mind was concentrating on were the hands. And the eerie screams of the souls. And trying as hard as he possibly could to escape. And he did! He had managed to yank himself free!

Georgie ran out of the dark, claustrophobic hallway, and into a larger room with a strobe light. With every blink of the light, Georgie could get a sense of his surroundings piece by piece. There were cob webs along the walls…and glimmering candelabras…and…a coffin. Two. Three? But that wasn't all. The coffins…they were…open. But that wasn't all. They were…empty. As if something had just crawled out of them.

The moaning returned. And so did the hands. But Georgie didn't feel them this time. He saw them. They were dirty, and infected, and decomposing, with bits of flesh flaking off. The hands had belonged to undead corpses—some on the ground, crawling, while others were standing on their feet, slowly stepping forward. But they were all making their way towards Georgie. They had trapped him in a corner. Georgie had nowhere to run. So, he simply collapsed on the ground, held his legs up to his chest, and started to scream and cry. With every flash of the strobe light, the zombies got closer. They were inches away from Georgie's head, some were even drooling on his bunny feet. So long, Georgie brain. You're about to become zombie food.

But then, the zombie closest to Georgie was violently pulled back. Pulled back by a tall, lean figure. It was hard to tell at first from the strobe light, but Georgie quickly recognized him to be his older brother, here to come to his rescue.

"What the hell is your problem?" Bill yelled with ferocity at the zombie. "He's just a little kid, for fuck's sake!"

"Okay, dude, chill out!" the "zombie" said nervously. "I wasn't going to do anything to him!"

"I don't f-f-fucking care! How the hell do we get out of here?" Bill asked, still visibly angry.

"I'll show you, just calm down." The "zombie" kid turned on the regular lights to the room, then went to turn off the strobe light. He walked them down another hallway, then opened up a hidden door. The Denbrough brothers ended up outside again, at the side of the garage. "Next time, don't bring your baby brother along." The kid shut the door behind him.

" _Baby_  brother? I'm not a baby," Georgie said sadly.

"Don't w-worry about him; at least you're ou-out of there."

"Oh, Bill," Georgie said, starting to cry, but trying his best to suppress it, "I'm so sorry! I tried to be brave. I really did! But I just…couldn't."

Bill pulled Georgie into a warm, understanding hug. "That's okay, Georgie. You at least went in there. That's a s-s-super brave thing to do!"

"Yeah, but I didn't  _feel_  brave. I was scared, Bill. I was  _super_  scared."

"R-r-remember the Cowardly Lion from the W-W- _Wizard of Oz_? Remember what he learned? Just because you're sc-scared doesn't mean you're not b-b-brave. Bravery is about moving forward  _despite_  b-b-being scared."

"I guess you're right. But I couldn't even move forward through the entire haunted house; I only made it to the second room."

"Well, at least you made it there, right? S-s-sometimes we just have to take things in baby steps, Georgie. Or sh-sh-should I say  _little_  steps? You're not a baby a-a-anymore, after all." Bill smiled at his brother, and Georgie let out a little laugh. "Oh, and I'm sorry you had to hear me swear back there. Don't repeat anything I said, okay?"

Georgie laughed some more. "Okay, Billy."

The rest of the Losers had exited out the way they came in. "What's wrong, Bill? We heard you yelling in there," Mike said.

"Yeah, you sounded  _really_  mad," Stan added.

"Oh, it was n-nothing, I guess," Bill answered.

The Losers could see that Georgie's eyes were puffy and red, as if he had just had a long cry. They could infer what had happened from there.

Richie kneeled down to Georgie's level and said, "Hey, George, I'm sorry for being such a jerk to you tonight. I shouldn't have called you a scaredy cat and all that. If you're not ready for something yet…well, that's alright. And you were very brave for even going in there at all. Can you forgive me, buddy?"

"I suppose," Georgie said with a playful smile as he reeled Richie in for a hug.

"C'mon, Georgie," Richie said, standing back up, "what d'you say we go back to your place and gorge ourselves in candy while we watch cartoons?"

"I'd say that's a great idea!" Georgie replied enthusiastically.

It was then that Georgie and Richie finally started seeing eye to eye on that night—the best thing about Halloween was definitely, certainly, without a doubt, the candy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed this chapter! I chose Dracula, a witch, a werewolf, and the Mummy as the costumes for the Losers as a little reference to the book, since those are all forms that It takes in the book, and in the case of Beverly and Ben, It appeared to them in the forms of the costumes they wear in this story. I chose Freddy Krueger as Richie's costume, because there was actually an idea for It to appear as Freddy Krueger in the 2017 movie, since it takes place in the 80s rather than the 50s, so that was another little Easter egg. And Eddie dressed up as a surgeon because I honestly couldn't think of anything else he would be XD Of course, Georgie was dressed up as a bunny because I wanted him to go as the least scary thing someone could be for Halloween.
> 
> Fun fact: Georgie's experience at the house in the cul-de-sac with him being left behind and the grim reaper following him is actually something that happened to me when I went trick-or-treating with my family when I was around four years old. It's a memory that's so deeply ingrained in my mind that I had to use it somehow in my writing. I'm not sure if there were actually two people stacked up on each other, or if that's just my memory making things more exaggerated than they were, but either way, I thought it made for a good dramatization.


	5. Beverly

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is about how Bill and Beverly met (or rather, reunited) in this AU. And obviously, since Beverly was with the other Losers in "Trick-or-Treat", this takes place before that chapter.

Bill was placing his history textbook back in his locker for lunch when he spotted the Bowers Gang making their way towards him. Oh, no. Deep shit.

The Bowers Gang consisted of Henry Bowers, the head honcho of the gang; Patrick Hockstetter, a crazed pyromaniac; Belch Huggins, the proud champion of the loudest burper in Derry; and Victor Criss, the lowest rung on the ladder of their gang, but still packs a nasty bite.

"W-w-w-what's going on, B-B-B-Billy Boy?" Henry mocked.

"J-j-just leave m-m-me alone, Henry," Bill said lowly as he took out his brown, paper lunch bag.

"What was that?" Henry said as he lifted a hand up to his ear in an exaggerated gesture.

Bill opened his mouth, he tried to form the words, but they just couldn't come out.

"Cat got your tongue?" Patrick said, laughing maniacally.

"Hey, what'd you get me for lunch, Mush Mouth?" Henry yanked Bill's bag out of his hands.

"G-give it back, Henry!" Bill reached out to take the bag, but Henry pushed him down to the floor with one hand.

Suddenly, a girl stepped in and said, right up to the bully's face, "Why don't you get lost, Henry?" She was a girl with beautiful, flowing red hair, glistening blue eyes, and a freckle-dusted face. Bill had seen her many times before. It was Beverly Marsh. They had known each other more closely in elementary school, but they had since grown apart.

Henry scanned up and down over her body. "Wow. Guess the rumors are true. You really  _would_  get in bed with anybody if you're willing to stoop down to Denbrough's level."

Beverly folded her arms and glared at the bully. "Just fuck off already."

Bowers started to turn the other way, his cronies following suit, but as he was leaving, he yelled back to Bill, "You know, Denbrough, you look like real pussy being saved by a girl!" The rest of his gang cackled in response to this remark.

As Bill picked himself up from the ground, he said to Beverly, "You know, y-y-you really didn't have to do that."

"You're right; I didn't  _have_  to. But what else would I do? Just watch them step all over you and let them win?"

"Well, they ended up w-w-winning anyways; you h-heard w-w-what they just said."

"You don't  _really_  believe anything they said, do you?"

"I don't know," Bill said as he shut his locker.

Beverly smiled and said to Bill, "Well, I hope you don't let them get to you."

As Beverly started to walk off, Bill said to her, "Wait, Beverly!" She turned around. "W-we haven't t-talked in a while."

Beverly had a fond look in her eyes. "Yeah. I guess we haven't, huh?" She started to walk back towards Bill. "How've you been, Bill?"

"Well, o-other than having to deal with B-Bowers…not too bad."

"Tell me about it," Beverly snickered. "At least you don't have every single girl in the student body rooting against you," she tried her best to make this come off as a quirky quip, but the sadness in her voice couldn't be restrained.

Bill briefly averted his eyes from his childhood friend to stare at the ground longingly. It hurt to know how rough Beverly has had it ever since middle school. Suddenly, he thought of something that might brighten up her day, even if just a bit, "D-d-do you wanna eat lunch with m-m-me and my friends? If y-y-you're not eating with anybody else, I mean."

"Sure! Got nowhere else to be."

"Cool! J-j-just don't be surprised if you get c-c-called a loser, too, by association." Bill chuckled in a sad manner.

"Believe me, there are far worse things to be called."


	6. The Circus Leaves Town

Ever since Georgie could remember, his bedroom walls were adorned with circus iconography: elephants, zebras, giraffes, lions, circus tents, circus trains. This was his nursery wallpaper, and he had grown up alongside it. As time went on, his circus wallpaper was slowly replaced by a solid coating of baby blue paint on his walls. That is, all expect one last wall in his room, which still had the wallpaper. But now, his parents finally decided that that day had come. They would take down the last wall of his cherished, childhood wallpaper.

This was a bittersweet moment for Georgie. This marked the fact that he was growing up, and he wasn't exactly sure how to feel about that. On the one hand, growing older meant that he was one step closer to being a grown-up, and grown-ups don't have to follow rules like kids do—they can make up their own rules. But on the other hand, that also meant that he would be one step away from being a kid. And once you're not a kid anymore, you can't eat candy and sweets. You can't spend Saturday mornings in your pajamas and watch cartoons. You can't play pretend in your backyard that you're a spaceman discovering an alien planet, or an explorer navigating through the deep jungles of Africa. You have to go to work, and do whatever boring stuff it is that grown-ups do there. It was a bittersweet moment indeed.

"You ready to say goodbye to your circus wallpaper, Georgie?" Sharon asked her son.

"M-maybe?" Georgie mumbled, unsure of what he was feeling.

"What do you mean 'maybe'?" Sharon said. "Don't you want to be a big boy now?"

"I…I don't know if I do," Georgie began to cry.

"Why not?"

"Because…growing up is scary. I don't want to be a grown-up yet. I still want to be a kid."

"Oh, honey," Sharon began to comfort the young Denbrough, "just because you'll be a big boy doesn't mean you'll be a grown-up quite yet. You've still got time to be a kid; don't worry. And when the time comes to when you  _will_  have to be a grown-up, I promise, you'll be ready for it. Okay?"

"Okay," Georgie responded, still not completely comforted.

"Hey, I tell you what," Sharon proposed, "I'll save a patch of the wallpaper for us to keep forever. So you'll always have a piece of it to look back on. That sound like a good deal?"

"Yeah. I guess that's not too bad of an idea," Georgie said as he started to cheer up.

Sharon got a precision knife and cut out a square of the wallpaper that contained the entire pattern without repeating. She handed the square to Georgie. "Here! You hold onto this for life! Okay?"

"Okay!" Maybe if Georgie kept this piece of wallpaper with him for his whole life, it would be as though he'd be keeping a piece of his childhood alongside him at all times. And maybe then, growing up wouldn't be as bad as it seems.


	7. Aftermath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This takes place probably the next day after the chapter "Beverly". It's Richie's discussion he has with Bill about how he feels about Beverly being brought into the group.

"So…we gonna talk about why you let Molly Ringwald into the group?" Richie asked as he and Bill were riding their bikes to the arcade in the Capitol Cinema.

"You mean Bev?"

"No, I mean the actual fucking Molly Ringwald!" Richie replied, thick with sarcasm.

"W-w-well, Bev has it rough. Just like we do. I wanted t-t-to make her feel included, since n-n-no one else in the school seems to be."

"But she's a  _girl_ , Bill! Now, don't get me wrong; I like pussy just as much as the next guy, but not in our group of friends. She's gonna mess up the vibe of the whole gang."

"N-n-no she won't. Bev's different; trust me. Sh-she's basically one of the guys. You'll warm up to her, Rich."

"But you've heard the rumors about her, Bill."

"Y-y-you don't actually believe them, do you?"

"I don't know, but whether they're true or not, imagine what she'll do to our reputation when people see us with her!"

"What reputation, Richie? Everyone knows us as losers anyways; can't get much worse than that."

"Okay, good point." Richie thought in silence for about as long as it was possible for him to  _be_  silent—about a second or two. "I'll give her a week."

"E-E-Eddie and Stan have no problem with it; I don't kn-know why you do."

"Because Eddie and Stan are just thinking with their dicks."

"How ironic that y-you, of all people, are saying that."

"Well, I know when to not let it interfere with my social life."

"Since when have  _you_  been about r-r-restraint of any kind? Be honest with me, Richie, what is it? A-are you just worried that I'm gonna start i-ignoring you guys in favor of her?" The two boys arrived in front of the Capitol Cinema, and they parked their bikes out front.

"No! Come on, Bill, that'd be stupid!"

"Well, if that  _is_  what it's all about, just know that she's an equal member of our group. She's just like any other loser in our circle of friends. She's not gonna get any more attention than you, or Eddie, or Stan." Bill didn't stutter once. That's how you know there's not an ounce of doubt in what he's said.

Shit, I guess he's serious about this.

"Alright, alright. Like I said, I'll give her a week to make a good impression on me. Now can we go play some fucking Street Fighter already?"

"Yeah, th-that sounds good."


	8. Timmy's Great Escape

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This prompt was requested by grayorca, so I thank you very much for your suggestion! I hope you like the chapter!
> 
> And just a reminder to everyone, feel more than welcome to give me your own prompt requests that you may have.

Bored. So bored. Whenever Billy was gone, it felt to Georgie as if everything became dull and boring. His big brother was off again at Stan's house along with Eddie and Richie, doing whatever they do there. What was Georgie to do? None of his favorite cartoons were on TV right now. He had already drawn and doodled all day until he became bored with that as well. Time to walk aimlessly around the house until he thinks of something to do.

The first stop would be the room in the house that he visited the most, after his own, of course—Bill's room. He walked in and sat on his older brother's bed and stared at the various posters hung up on the wall. Then, his eyes landed on the cage that sat on top of Bill's dresser. This cage encased their pet hamster, Timmy. Let's see how the little rodent is doing, shall we? After all, he is technically both Billy  _and_  Georgie's pet, even if he's only kept in Bill's room.

The little hamster was tucked in a corner, sleeping. Georgie thought fondly back on the day when they first got him. It was Georgie's idea to get him, and he was even the one who picked him out and named him. And yet Billy was the one who got to keep him in his room? That's not very fair. Georgie didn't even get to be affectionate with his pet at all; Bill always reprimanded him every time he so much as opened the cage. All he wanted was a little love from Timmy. Was that so much to ask for? Well, Bill's not here now to stop him.

Georgie opened up the latch on the cage and reached his hand in. He grasped the hamster, waking him up and instilling panic and fear within his little rodent body. "It's okay, don't be scared; I won't hurt you," the little boy said to his pet. Georgie took Timmy out of his cage, the hamster continuing to writhe in fear. The young Denbrough brought him up to his face to kiss the little furball, but before he could, the hamster squirmed his way out of Georgie's hands and scurried across the floor underneath Bill's bed!

Oh, no.

Oh, no!

Oh, no! Oh, NO! OH, NO!

This can't be happening! This  _can't_  be happening!

"What do I do? What do I do?!" Georgie panicked. He looked under Bill's bed, but the hamster wasn't there! "Where did he go?!" Georgie squeaked. He probably dashed off to hide in some tiny crevasse somewhere in the house.

Georgie sat on Bill's bed and started to take in the gravity of the situation. His first pet, and he's lost now, thanks to Georgie's dummy decision to take him out. He began to cry, thinking he may never see his little hamster again. To make matters worse, he could hear the front door open, signaling Bill's return home.

The younger Denbrough could hear the thumping steps of his big brother walking up the stairs, and Georgie knew there was no hiding his mistake. He had to fess up. Hopefully his brother would have mercy on him.

"Hey, Georgie, what're you- " Bill noticed as he walked into his room that Georgie's eyes were red with tears and snot was dribbling down his nose. "What's wrong?"

"I lost Timmy!" Georgie said as he continued to sob. "He's gone, Billy! He's gone! And it's all my fault!"

Bill looked at the cage and saw that it was empty. "W-w-what do you mean? What ha-happened?"

"I wanted to hold him and pet him, but he jumped out of my hands!"

The elder Denbrough sibling pinched the bridge of his nose as he tried to figure out how they were going to fix this. "Why, Georgie? I told you! I t-t-told you to n-n-never take him out of his cage, 'cause then s-s-something e-e-exactly like this was gonna h-happen."

"I know! I'm sorry! I just wanted to love him!"

"Well, n-now you can't l-love him at all, can you? 'Cause now he-he's off somewhere in the house, p-p-probably in some place we can't get to. S-so great job at not li-listening to me."

"I know! What I did was wrong! Just stop being mad at me so we can get him back!"

"Okay…" Bill paused to settle down. "Okay, you're right. We  _both_  n-need to calm down, alright? That means you n-need to stop crying."

"Okay," Georgie said as he wiped his eyes and nose with his shirt sleeve.

"We need to th-think how we're gonna get T-Timmy back."

"We have to catch 'im," Georgie said.

"Well, ob-obviously. But how're we g-g-gonna do that?"

"Hmm," Georgie pondered.

"M-maybe we can lure him out f-from wherever he's hiding with something h-he likes," Bill suggested.

"Like his food! We can spread it on the ground, then once he comes out to eat it, we catch 'im!"

"Good idea, Georgie!"

Bill went downstairs and came back up a few moments later with the bag of hamster food. He scattered the assortment of seeds and corn kernels on the floor, right at the foot of his bed. "A-alright," Bill said, joining Georgie on top of the bed, "now all w-we gotta do is sit here on the bed, a-and when we see Timmy come to eat the food, we gr-grab him, and we put him back in the c-c-cage!"

"I wanna catch him!"

"Okay, but you g-g-gotta be quick."

"I'm a lot quicker than  _you_ , Billy!" Georgie said snidely.

"Sure about that?" Bill replied with a smirk.

"Yes! I've seen how slow you react, Bill; if you tried to catch him, he'd be gone before you'd reach him."

"Yeah, you do have pretty f-fast reflexes, don't ya, Georgie?"

"Like a lizard!" Georgie flicked his tongue out a few times, mimicking a reptile.

Bill laughed at Georgie's antics. "Alright, Lizard-Boy, j-j-just make sure you c-catch that rodent!"

"My eyes are peeled!"

After five minutes of waiting around on the bed, Georgie asked, "How long's it gonna take, Billy?"

"I don't kn-know. Could take hours, m-maybe."

" _Hours?!_  I don't want to wait that long!"

"Well, you want T-T-Timmy back, don't you?"

Georgie sighed. "Fine."

Luckily, it didn't take hours—only about twenty minutes or so. Though, it still felt like hours to Georgie. They suddenly heard the scampering of tiny claws along the wooden floor. The two brothers both peered over the edge of the bed and saw Timmy on the ground gnawing away at the seeds. Bill looked at Georgie and mouthed, "Go!" as he tilted his head toward the unsuspecting hamster.

Georgie leapt from the bed like a tiger pouncing its prey and landed on top of Timmy with a loud thud on the floor.

"G-G-Georgie, what are you thinking?! You cr-crushed Timmy!"

The seven-year-old boy had his hands tucked underneath his chest, and when he lifted himself off the floor, he said, "No, I didn't; I have him right here!" as he showed off the hamster within his grasp, perfectly unharmed.

"O-okay, now hurry and p-put him back in his cage!"

Georgie followed his older brother's command and shut the latch on the cage once and for all. "We did it! We got Timmy back!" Georgie exclaimed. The two brothers high-fived each other.

"Your plan worked!" Bill congratulated.

" _Our_  plan worked. We're a team!"

"Right, of course. But you know, that was still st-stupid of you to land on top of him," Bill said. "You really c-c-could've hurt him badly."

"I'm sorry, Timmy," Georgie said to the hamster through the cage.

"Now, come on," Bill said, "we gotta c-clean up all this hamster food off of m-my floor now."

In this rare occasion, Georgie didn't complain about having to clean up—he was just grateful that he managed to get his beloved pet back safe and sound. And maybe from now on, he would listen to what his brother tells him a bit more often.

Maybe.


	9. When Bev Met Ben

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think it's a little self-explanatory, but this chapter takes place after the chapter "Aftermath", but still before the two Halloween chapters.

The final bell of the day had rung, sending all the kids in school to scramble out of their classes as fast they could manage. Beverly made her way over to her locker and took out all her books to put them inside her backpack. She slammed her locker shut, zipped up her bag, and slung it over her shoulder, ready to leave for home.

Once outside, on the front steps of the school, Beverly noticed a chubby little freshman crouched over, frantically gathering up his papers and books that were scattered all over the ground. Bev glanced up and saw the Bowers Gang a few feet away, laughing hysterically as they walked away. That was enough to tell her what had happened here.

Always willing to show a little bit of kindness to others, Bev walked over to help him out.

Once they both managed to gather everything up, the boy politely said to Beverly, "Thanks for helping me." His whole face was red from blushing.

"No problem!" Bev found his face to be familiar. "Hey, do I know you from somewhere?" she asked.

"Yeah, we're in the same social studies class. My name's Ben."

"Ben—that's right. You're the new kid."

"Yep."

"Bet that's why Bowers has been pickin' on you."

"Well, that's not the only reason," Ben said as he stared down at his large gut.

Beverly noticed he had headphones on, connected to his Walkman. "What'cha listening to?" she asked as she took the headphones and placed them on her own head. She was suddenly engulfed in the sounds of  _Hangin' Tough_  by, "New Kids On The Block? Oh,  _now_  I get it!"

"I don't actually like them or anything," Ben mumbled as he snatched his headphones back.

Bev smirked. "Well, I wouldn't mind it if you actually did. Just so you know. I'm not one of those mean kids who makes fun of other kids for stuff they like."

Ben smiled. "Thanks," he responded simply.

As Beverly started to walk away, she said to Ben, "Hang tough, New Kid On The Block!"

* * *

The next day at school, as Beverly was eating lunch with Bill Denbrough, Stanley Uris, Eddie Kaspbrak, and Richie Tozier—collectively known as the Losers—she noticed the new kid walk by with his lunch tray. What was his name again? Oh, yeah. "Hey, Ben!" Beverly shouted. When he looked over, Beverly waved at him. He waved back.

"You know him?" Stan asked.

"He's in my sosh class. Don't know him much, though."

Beverly looked over and saw Ben sitting at a lunch table all alone, quietly eating his lunch. She hated to see someone with no friends; it reminded her too much of herself. So, she got up and walked over to him. "How's it going, Ben?"

"Eh, alright, I guess," he answered as he finished swallowing a spoonful of macaroni and cheese.

"How 'bout you come have lunch with me and my friends?"

"I-I don't know…"

"C'mon, they're really nice; trust me."

Beverly walked Ben over to the table she had been eating at and told her friends, "I want you all to welcome the newest member of the Losers Club: Ben!"

"How's it goin', Benny Boy?" Richie said as he patted the empty space next to him on the bench, signaling him to sit down.

Ben wasn't sure about this whole "friends" thing. One friend was fine. Like Beverly. But five? That's a little overwhelming. The truth was, Ben didn't mind being alone all that much. Being alone meant being safe from the societal fears of judgement and ridicule. It meant you didn't have to pretend to be interested in a conversation you really couldn't care less about. It meant you didn't have to sacrifice your own personal time to do activities you may or may not have any investment in. But Ben did know one thing: he liked Bev. And if Bev liked these guys, then how bad could they really be?


	10. Piano Lesson

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys! Sorry it took me so long to post the next chapter; I've been a bit busy with school. Anyways, I hope you all enjoy the chapter!

Bill tried to concentrate on his algebra homework—he still had twenty problems to get through—but a certain George Denbrough was making that a bit trickier than it normally would be. Bill needed a lot of silence to fully concentrate on schoolwork, and silent is certainly what Georgie was not, at the moment. While Bill was seated at his desk doing algebra work, his brother was sitting on his bed singing a medley of Disney songs as he drew his favorite characters with his box of crayons.

"G-G-Georgie, can you please stop singing?" Bill said, audibly frustrated. "I'm trying to do my homework!"

"Okay,  _fine_ ," Georgie said in a sassy manner. He continued coloring in Peter Pan's green pants until he heard the doorbell ring from downstairs.

He heard his mom call out, "Georgie, Ms. Thompson is here!"

"Ugh, Ms. Thompson!" Georgie said, annoyed.

"Come on, go d-d-do your piano lessons," Bill said, motioning with his hands for Georgie to shoo out of his room.

"I hate piano lessons!" Georgie pouted as he slammed his crayon down on the bed. "Dad's already forcing me to play baseball; why do they gotta force me to play piano, too?"

"You'll learn one day th-that extracurricular activities are g-good for you," Bill said.

"Why are you talking like Mom?" Georgie asked.

"Georgie!" Sharon called out again.

"Alright, I'm coming!" Georgie yelled as he walked out of Bill's room and ran down the stairs.

At least now Bill wouldn't be bothered by Georgie's singing for the next hour. But then he realized that he would have to listen to something much worse—the sound of Georgie fumbling over his piano music from downstairs.

He heard the first few seconds of  _F_ _ü_ _r Elise_  play on the piano, only to be interrupted by a wrong note being played. Then it would be back to the beginning—maybe it would go on a bit further, only to be interrupted by an error once again. And thus, the cycle continued. Bill wasn't even the one playing, and he was still getting stressed just  _listening_  to his younger brother constantly mess up. As the class went on, though, Georgie did seem to be improving, at least. Hopefully he would actually practice this week so that progress wouldn't be lost.

Finally, he heard the front door close, meaning Ms. Thompson had left for the week. Bill could get some peace and quiet at last. That is until he heard the unmistakable sound of little feet trotting up the stairs and toward his bedroom. The door swung open, and Georgie entered the room dramatically.

"Ugh, Ms. Thompson is so annoying!" Georgie said.

"Why do you s-say that?" Bill asked.

"'Cause every time, it's the same. 'Georgie, you have to practice! I can tell you're not practicing, Georgie! You'll never get better if you don't practice!'"

"W-well, is sh-she wrong? You never p-practice as much as you should."

"I know! I know I don't practice enough! But I don't even like playing piano! Mom's only making me play it because  _she_  likes to play piano. Same thing with Dad. The only reason I play baseball is because  _he_  likes baseball. But they're not thinking about what  _I_  want."

"T-true. But maybe they're more thinking about w-what would be best for you in the long run, whether you like it or not at this p-present moment. And anyways, j-just because you don't like piano doesn't excuse y-y-you from practicing it."

"I know. But there's so much other stuff to do. I have baseball practice I gotta go to every week. And I gotta do homework for school. And I also want to have fun playing, and drawing, and watching TV."

"I know, i-it's a lot to balance. But that's what life is. Sorry to say, Georgie, b-but it's only going to get tr-tr-trickier to balance all your stuff out from h-here."

"It's easy for you to say! You don't have to play sports, or play instruments, or anything like that!"

"Yeah. Yeah, you're right. And you kn-know what? Sometimes I wish I did. 'Cause look at m-m-me—I didn't do any of the cool stuff y-you do, and now I'm known as a loser t-to everyone in school."

"If you wanted to do that stuff, why didn't you?"

"'Cause, just like you, I-I didn't want to do any of that stuff when I was younger. The difference was that Mom or D-Dad didn't force me to do a-anything, so I just didn't. Now? M-maybe I kinda wish they  _did_  f-force me to do something. 'Cause at this point, I'm t-too lazy to do any of that myself," Bill chuckled.

"You  _are_  lazy!" Georgie said in flittering laughter.

"Yeah, I am; I'll admit it," Bill said with a slight grin.

"A big, fat, lazy butt!"

"Okay, now that's going too far!" Bill said, laughing. "And anyway, just because I may be a b-bit lazy doesn't mean y-y-you have to be, and that's why I think it's important th-that you do these sort of things."

"I guess so," Georgie said a little longingly.

"Believe me, I know you may not like it now, but I'm sure you won't regret it in the future," Bill said as he smiled sincerely at his brother. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I r-really have to get back to my m-math homework."

"And  _I_  have to get back to my drawing!"

Bill playfully rolled his eyes as Georgie continued to sing while doodling with his crayons. It's not the peace and quiet he was hoping for, but Bill has learned to be adaptable when living with a seven-year-old sibling in the house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, I know most of this chapter was just Bill lecturing Georgie, so if you didn't find it that interesting, I completely understand. The things both Georgie and Bill have gone through in this chapter were very personal to me, so not everyone will be able to relate.
> 
> In a weird way, I see myself in both Bill and Georgie's position in this chapter. I almost sort of wrote it as a dialogue between me and my younger self? I guess? I don't know. You see, when I was a kid, I was like Georgie in the fact that my parents made me do stuff that I didn't want to do like play sports or play piano. But once I got into high school, I became more like Bill in that my parents didn't make me do those things anymore, but then later on, reflecting back, I almost sort of wished that they had, since that sort of allowed me to be more secluded, as well as kinda lazy XD
> 
> P.S. You probably already noticed this, but Georgie playing Fur Elise is a reference to the book, since that's the song Sharon was playing on the piano on the day Georgie died. Not only that, but it's a favorite song of Jackson Robert Scott, the actor who played Georgie in the 2017 movie, so there's a little bonus trivia for you.


	11. Richie to the Rescue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no idea why I'm giving Richie so much attention. He's not my favorite character or anything, so I really don't know why XD But he's definitely a fan favorite, so I guess it works out.
> 
> Anyways, this is the last chapter with a new member of the Losers joining the club. All seven will finally be assembled by the end of this chapter. So, that being said, this chapter takes place after "When Bev Met Ben", and the last one to take place before the Halloween chapters. October must've been a very eventful month for the Losers in this AU.
> 
> One more thing, as a warning, there is a minor racial slur used in this chapter. So just bear that in mind if you need to.

The Losers all made their usual bike trip home after school. They passed by all the landmarks of their small town—the Paul Bunyan statue, the library, the butcher shop. Outside of the shop was one of the few black boys in Derry, about the same age as the rest of the Losers, delivering a package of meat. The Losers often saw this boy outside the butcher shop on their way back from school. He didn't go to their school, though. In fact, they didn't even know his name. He was only affectionately known by Richie as,

"Homeschool! Hey, how ya doin'?" Richie cried out as he rode by him on his bike. The origins of this nickname are quite self-explanatory—the kid was homeschooled, which is why the Losers didn't know much about him. But they continued along, passing by the butcher shop, ready to forget about him as quickly as they rode past him.

The next day, the Losers Club once again all rode on their bikes, coming along toward the butcher shop. But this time, Homeschool wasn't anywhere to be seen. Richie slowed down on his bike, causing the rest of the club to slow down as well.

"What's wrong, Richie?" Eddie asked.

"Where's Homeschool?" Richie wondered, looking inside the shop to make sure he wasn't in there.

"We probably missed him," Stan said. "Why does it matter anyways?"

"I dunno, it just doesn't feel right."

Suddenly, they all heard the sound of a loud, revving engine, accompanied by maniacal laughter. That could only mean one thing—the Bowers Gang. It was coming from the alleyway next to the shop.

"Come on," Richie said, "we gotta go help Homeschool!" He rode his bike into the alley.

"Are you crazy?!" Ben said. "Bowers is gonna kill us!"

Richie didn't listen to him, though, and he kept riding into the alley. The rest of the Losers figured that Richie was going to face off against Bowers no matter what, so they might as well help him. Thus, they all followed Richie down the alley.

At the end of the alley was a small lot, where Henry was at the helm of Belch's car, revving the engine and trapping Homeschool against a fence. "Got nowhere to run, Blackie!" Henry yelled. "Better watch out! Don't wanna get run over by the car!"

"Hey, asshole!" Richie yelled, causing all the members of the Bowers Gang to shift their focus away from Homeschool and onto the Trashmouth. "Why don't you leave him alone and go back to blowing your dad at home?"

"You losers think you're so fuckin' funny? Okay, lets' play!" Henry said as he backed up the car and turned it to face the Losers up the alley.

"We gotta fuckin' go, guys! We gotta fuckin' go!" Richie said as he started madly pedaling back up the alley toward the sidewalk. The other Losers all pedaled as fast as they could manage to get out of the alley. "We'll split up, then meet up back here when we've lost them!" Richie said. Henry started driving up the alley.

Ben was the last one in line. The deafening roar of the car engine filled his ears. He was so close to reaching the end of the alley!  _Just a little more! I can't die this way! Not by being run over by Bowers in an alleyway! Please, not now! Just a little more!_  Ben felt the front bumper of the car scrape against his rear bike wheel just as he got out of the alley and made a sharp turn to the left down the sidewalk. He made it! Henry turned right to follow the other Losers rather than left to follow Ben. He was scot-free!

That didn't mean the other Losers were, though. Eddie was the next one down the line. Once he saw Belch's car following him, he started to panic even more than he already was. "Oh, shit! Oh, shit!" he said as he steered his bike onto the sidewalk so that the car couldn't get to him. That didn't do much to relinquish his fear, though. Bowers still had his eyes hard-set on him.

Eddie was now on the Kissing Bridge, and the gang was still hot on his tail. He took this opportunity to jump his bike over the railing of the bridge and ride it downhill into the Barrens. He heard the roar of the engine fade away as it continued down the road. It seemed like he had lost them now. It was time for him to meet everyone back at the butcher shop.

Stan was the first one to make it back to the shop, with Bill and Beverly close behind. They found the homeschooled kid walking out from the alley with his bike. "I can't thank you guys enough," he said.

"W-w-well, it's really Ri-Richie you should be thanking," Bill said.

"Speak of the devil," Stan said, pointing attention towards Richie, who was riding down the sidewalk on his bike toward the shop.

"Hey, Homeschool," Richie said. "You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks for saving my ass back there. I really owe you guys."

"Nah, it's no biggie," Richie said. "We're used to dealing with Bowers and his gang of assholes."

"What's your name, anyways?" Beverly asked. "So we don't have to keep calling you 'Homeschool'."

"Mike. Mike Hanlon."

"N-n-nice to meet you, M-Mike," Bill said.

"Welcome to the Losers Club, Mikey!" Richie joyously declared.

"Since when are you accepting new members of the Losers Club with open arms?" Beverly questioned.

"Since right now!" Richie said. "Mike truly belongs with us Losers."

"Uh…thanks," Mike said. "I'm not sure if I should take that as a compliment or an insult," he chuckled.

Eddie and Ben finally met up with the rest of the Losers in front of the butcher shop. "What's goin' on, guys?" Eddie asked.

"Mike here is the n-n-newest member of the L-L-Losers Club, apparently," Bill announced.

"Nice to meet you, Mike!" Ben said.

Then, the dreaded sound of a roaring engine broke their peace. "Oh, shit," Bill said. "That's Bowers. They're p-p-probably on their w-w-way back here."

"Hurry, let's go!" Stan said as he got back on his bike.

As the other Losers got on their bikes, including Mike, Bill said, "We'll be sure to keep in touch, Mike," as they all pedaled away toward their respective homes.

"Yeah, see you around, guys," Mike said as he rode back home as well.

Bill couldn't exactly put his finger on his current feeling, but it almost felt as if the Losers Club was "complete" now. As if these seven people were always destined to be friends with one another from the very beginning, and they had just fulfilled that prophecy this afternoon. After all, there's a power in numbers, and seven was the holiest, most powerful number of them all.

Then again, maybe Bill was just reading too many high fantasy stories lately.


	12. Christmas Time is Here

It was that time of year once again. The air had chilled, all the leaves had fallen, and a cool, white blanket of snow had covered the small town of Derry. December had arrived.

At the Denbrough household, this meant that Zack had the hassling task of rigging up all the Christmas lights around the outside of the house, grumbling and cussing frustratedly all throughout the process. Within the inside of the house, all the decorations had been set up, and the glorious smells of peppermint, eggnog, and gingerbread filled the warm air. And, of course, the unmistakable scent of a fresh pine tree. The two brothers were putting the finishing touches on the Christmas tree in the living room, with Georgie keeping things lively by singing Christmas songs. Bill put a spherical, glass, purple ornament on one of the branches, and Georgie put on the last ornament—a shiny, red one.

"Alright, now o-only one more thing l-left," Bill said.

"The star!" Georgie exclaimed.

"Yep! You wanna p-put it on, Georgie?"

"Yeah!" Georgie picked up the gold star, then Bill lifted him up so he could place it on the top of the tree. "There! It's all done now!"

Bill set Georgie back down on the ground. "You're gettin' too heavy, G-Georgie. I can't keep p-picking you up like that anymore."

"Maybe you're just getting weaker, Billy!"

"Yeah, c-could be that, too," Bill said humorously.

"Wow, the tree looks great, guys!" Sharon said as she came into the living room. "Well, I made some hot cocoa for you both. It's in the kitchen."

"Oooo, yummy!" Georgie said as he dashed to the kitchen and grabbed his mug of hot cocoa. "Thanks for the hot chocolate, Mommy!"

"You're welcome, Georgie!" Sharon went upstairs to go to her bedroom, leaving the brothers alone in the kitchen.

Georgie pulled out the bag of marshmallows from the cupboard, grabbed a handful of marshmallows, and plopped them inside his mug.

"Whoa, easy on the marshmallows there, Georgie," Bill said.

"But they're so delicious!" Georgie responded cheerfully. Bill chuckled at his brother's remark and sat himself at the dining table. Georgie joined him after putting the bag of marshmallows back in the cupboard. "I love Christmas! It's my favorite time of the year!"

"Yeah? What m-makes it your favorite?" Bill asked.

"Well…" Georgie thought for a moment, "I love all the pretty Christmas decorations. And I love Christmas songs. And Christmas movies!"

"Like  _Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer_?"

"Uh-huh! And  _The Grinch_!"

"Ah, of course. Can't f-f-forget  _The Grinch_."

"And I love getting new toys from Santa, of course!"

"Yeah, new toys are a-always exciting." Bill took a sip from his hot chocolate. "But you know w-what I like about Christmas most of all?"

"What?"

"Enjoying the time we s-spend with each other as a-a-a family."

"Hm. I guess so," Georgie didn't seem to be completely convinced.

"Georgie, I don't think you r-r-realize how lucky you are to have a f-family like ours. We have t-two loving parents who care about us and are k-kind to us."

"But…isn't that what everyone's family is like?"

"Not a-always, unfortunately."

"Do you know anybody like that?"

"Many of my friends, a-actually. Eddie, his parents d-divorced, and he's living with his mom, who's very overprotective o-of him—always telling him he's sick, even when he i-isn't."

"Is that why he's always worried about germs?"

"Uh-huh. Richie, his dad is sorta mean, and his m-m-mom…well…she gets dr-drunk a lot." Georgie giggled. "No, it's not funny, Georgie. His parents, they p-p-pay him no attention. They just ignore him. They don't care about h-how his day went, or why he might be sad."

"That's not fair."

"No, it's n-not. Beverly's parents divorced, and sh-she's living with her dad, who I think…w-well, I have a feeling that her dad is  _very_  mean to her, b-but I don't know for sure. And Mike's parents…b-both of his parents d-died."

"No!"

"Yes. He's living with his gr-grandpa now, who's kinda mean to him. And please don't tell them a-any of this stuff I told you. It's kind of a sensitive topic for them. The only reason I'm telling you this is s-s-so you can better appreciate the family we have."

"Okay," Georgie said solemnly. "So does that mean that none of them have as merry of a Christmas as we do?"

"Probably not. Their family lives a-aren't as fortunate as ours is. Which is why y-you should be all the more thankful for what you have."

"What about Ben and Stan? Do they have merry Christmases?"

"Ben? I'm not sure. He's k-kinda quiet, so I don't know a wh-whole lot about his family life. And Stan has a decent enough family. His dad's a l-l-little strict, but his mom's fine. But he doesn't celebrate Christmas."

"He doesn't?"

"No, he's Jewish, so he c-celebrates Hanukkah."

"What's Hanukkah?"

"I don't know a whole lot about it, b-but I know it lasts for eight days, and you get a present on e-each day."

"So, it's like Christmas, but for eight whole days?! I wanna be Jewish!"

Bill snorted in laughter. "Georgie, don't let Mom and Dad hear you s-say that!"

"Sorry!" Georgie whispered.

"Besides, you only get eight presents t-total for Hanukkah, whereas th-there's no limit for Christmas."

"That's true," Georgie pondered.

"Also, Santa doesn't come to k-kids who celebrate Hanukkah."

"No Santa?! Okay, I take back what I said!"

Bill snickered. "Well, there's n-nothing wrong with Stan celebrating Hanukkah. That holiday is j-just as special to him as Christmas i-is to us. We just have to respect each other's differences."

"I do, Billy. It's just that we've celebrated Christmas all our lives, so I'm just kinda used to it. But that's fine if Stan doesn't celebrate it, so long as he likes it that way!"

"Y-yeah, exactly."

Georgie finished the last of his hot chocolate. "But I think you're right, Billy; we really are lucky to have a family as good as ours. I'll be sure to tell that to Santa in my letter to him."

"I'm sure he'll be very happy to read that."

Just in time, Sharon came back down into the kitchen. She asked the boys, "Did you enjoy your hot cocoa?"

"Yeah, it was really good, Mom. Th-thanks," Bill said. Sharon collected their empty mugs and put them in the sink.

Just then, Zack came into the house and entered the kitchen. "Finally got all the Christmas lights up," he said.

"Oh, thank God," Sharon said. "You're always in such a bad mood whenever you do that."

"Yeah, 'cause they're always such a pain to put up! But anyways, it's over now, and the sun's set, so you guys wanna come see the lights?"

"Yeah!" both Georgie and Bill said in unison.

The Denbroughs all put on their winter coats and went outside. Zack plugged in the cords, and the whole house lit up in thousands of tiny, colored lights.

Georgie cheered in victory. "Christmas time is officially here!" And as he stood there in the snow, huddled alongside his mother, his father, and his big brother, with wide smiles on all of their faces, he was reminded of what truly made Christmas the best time of year—it wasn't just the decorations, or the songs, or even the toys. While those parts were great, too, what made it truly special was the warm, cozy feeling he felt with his family. And that was the greatest gift of them all.


	13. Georgie's Letter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I kinda turned this into a Christmas trilogy of chapters, so this is the second part. This is a followup to the previous chapter, "Christmas Time is Here".

"Have you written y-your letter to Santa yet, Georgie?" Bill asked while sketching in his sketchbook on his bed.

"Not yet. I'm not sure what I want for Christmas," Georgie responded, sitting on the edge of Bill's bed.

"You don't w-want any toys?"

"I do, but I'm not sure what  _kind_  of toys. But maybe I'm just not thinking big enough. Maybe I shouldn't even ask for toys at all. Maybe I should ask for…a dinosaur!"

"A dinosaur?"

"Uh-huh!"

"Like…a real one?"

"Yeah! I want one as a pet!"

"Georgie…dinosaurs are e-extinct, you know that. Not even S-Santa can give you that."

"I know. Still, it would be cool! Okay, if not a dinosaur…how about a dragon?"

"Georgie. Dragons aren't real. If you're g-going to ask Santa for an animal, a-at least make it one that is real, and is n-not extinct. So that means no dodos either."

Georgie giggled. "Okay, okay. Then how about a pet elephant? Santa can get an elephant, can't he?"

"An elephant? H-how would that even fit in his s-sack?"

"I don't know, how does he fit enough toys for all the kids in the world in one sack? If he has enough space for that, I'm sure he can make room for an elephant."

"Hm. You may have a point there. Okay, but then how would he f-fit it down the chimney? Or p-put it under the tree?"

"I can just leave him a note to put it outside!"

"Well, you can tr-try asking him for that, but just have a p-plan B for him, just in case he c-can't give you the elephant."

Georgie thought for a moment. "Okay, I think I got it! I know what to write for my letter now!"

The seven-year-old boy ran out of his brother's room and into his own. He grabbed a piece of red construction paper and sat down at his desk to write his letter to Santa:

_Dear Santa,_

_This is Georgie Denbrough from Derry, Maine. I hope you think I've been good this year. I think I have. I don't really want much for Christmas this year. All I want is an elephant. If you can't get me a real one, I won't be mad. I'll still be happy if it's just a toy elephant. If not that, some other ideas could be a new video game for Bill's NES, or a movie I like on VHS. You don't need to get me all of these things. Only one would be fine for me. But really, what I want most of all is for Bill's friends to have a merry Christmas (and Stan to have a happy Hanukkah). Bill told me that many of them don't have good families, and if they don't have good families, then it is hard for them to have a good Christmas, and no one deserves to have a bad Christmas. I've learned how great the family I have is, and I'm very thankful for them. I am very blessed, so this year I would like to share that happiness with others. So, if you could please give them the best Christmas they've ever had this year, that would be the best present of all. I hope that won't be too hard for you._

_Sincerely,_

_Georgie Denbrough_

After getting a spell check from Bill, Georgie put his letter in an envelope and addressed it for Santa Claus in the North Pole. Georgie put a reindeer stamp on the envelope, and the two brothers went out to drop it off at the nearest mailbox.


	14. Christmas Morning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the final part of the Christmas trilogy. This is a followup to the two previous chapters, "Christmas Time is Here" and "Georgie's Letter". This chapter is very, very fluffy, cheesy, and sappy, so I apologize for that. That being said, I hope you enjoy it XD

The gentle morning light seeped into Georgie's room through the windows, softly waking up the boy from his pleasant dream. "Christmas!" he whispered to himself. "It's Christmas!" he yelled as he threw back his bed covers and leapt onto the ground. He yanked his bedroom door open and sped across the hallway to go into his brother's room.

Georgie jumped onto Bill's bed, repeatedly crying out, "Bill, it's Christmas! Wake up! Wake up!"

Bill groaned as he started to stir awake. "Georgie, stop jumping on the bed," he said groggily.

Eventually, Bill was persuaded out of bed, and Zack and Sharon joined the brothers out in the hallway, woken up by Georgie's audible excitement.

Georgie rushed downstairs and went straight to the fireplace first. There, he saw the two stockings hung—one for him, one for Bill—filled with candy canes, chocolates, and all sorts of other candy. "Yummy!" the boy said excitedly as he pulled his stocking off from the fireplace and into his arms. He then ran to the kitchen and found an empty plate and glass where cookies and milk used to be. "Look!" he said to his family, who were just arriving in the kitchen. "Santa ate the milk and cookies we left him! Just like he always does!"

"Why don't you come check out what Santa left you over here under the tree?" Sharon proposed.

"Oh, yeah, of course!" Georgie said as he came over to sit with the rest of the family beside the Christmas tree.

"I think you should open this one first," Zack said as he handed Georgie a gift box.

Georgie opened it and found a blue, plush elephant toy inside. "An elephant! Just like I asked for!"

"Looks like S-Santa couldn't get you the real elephant after all," Bill said. Sharon glared at Bill for making such a comment.

"Oh, that's alright!" Georgie said. "I love it all the same! I'm gonna name him…Quinton!"

"And look!" Sharon said. "Santa even gave you more presents than you asked for!" She pulled out a pile of wrapped presents from underneath the tree.

"Really?!" Georgie shouted ecstatically.

"He must've thought you were really good this year, so he thought you deserved more," Sharon said.

One of the other presents was a painting kit, since Georgie expressed an interest in art, like his big brother. He also got  _Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles_  action figures, since he enjoyed watching the cartoon on TV. Another one of the presents was a package with two items: the recently released  _Super Mario Bros. 2_  and  _Zelda II: The Adventure of Link_  for the Nintendo Entertainment System. And the final package included both a VHS of  _E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial_  and a VHS of Disney's  _Cinderella_ , which were both recently released on home video. "Wow, I can't believe Santa got me all this stuff!" Georgie said.

"You deserve it," Sharon said. "You've been such a good boy." Georgie then went over to give his mom a warm hug.

Bill's gifts weren't so exciting—they mainly consisted of new clothes—but he was happy to be there all the same. The joy on his little brother's face was a gift in and of itself.

"Oh, and Georgie," Zack said, "there's one more thing. We got a special message from Santa that you wanted Bill's friends to have a good Christmas, too, so they're all coming over later to celebrate!"

"Oh, my gosh, that's amazing! I'm so happy!" Georgie leapt into his brother's arms in a tight embrace. "This might be the greatest Christmas ever!"


	15. From Three to Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hey, it took me long enough, huh? Sorry I haven't updated this story in a while. I was just taking a bit of a break from It. But I felt the inspiration hit me again, so here's another chapter! This one kinda ends unceremoniously, so I apologize for that, but the following chapter sort of picks up what this one sets up. This chapter takes place after "Richie to the Rescue", but before the Halloween chapters. Yeah, remember when I said that one was supposed to be the last chapter before the Halloween chapters? I was wrong XD But I'm pretty sure this one will be the last one to take place before those chapters. This chapter also explains why Georgie wasn't present in "Richie to the Rescue". Anyways, I hope you enjoy this long overdue chapter!

Georgie had caught that flu bug from his big brother. After two days of being sick at home, he had finally returned to school. It was both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, it was good that he wasn't sick anymore. He hated being sick, as anyone does. But on the other hand, that meant that he had to go back to boring school instead of staying home and watching TV in his pajamas all day.

Bill was always jealous of Georgie when it came to being sick, since it seemed like their parents were a lot more lenient with his little brother than himself. If Georgie so much as had a sore throat or a case of the sniffles, Mom saw it fit for him to stay home another day. While Bill, on the other hand, could only get away with staying home from school if he had something as dire as a fever. Even if he happened to be coughing his lungs out along with fat, green phlegm—no fever, good enough to go. To top it all off, Georgie got the complete luxuries when he stayed home: breakfast in bed, unlimited TV, excused from homework. Meanwhile, if Bill did happen to have a fever and had to stay home, he was confined to his bedroom only, where he was limited to resting in bed the entire day. And he still had to catch up on the homework that was due the next day (although, to be fair towards Zack and Sharon, this was more the fault of Bill's teachers than them.) Life was often very unfair toward the elder sibling.

But that didn't matter too much now, given that the end of the school day had come. Georgie waited outside of Derry Elementary School for his brother and his friends to come pick him up so they could walk home.

"Hey, Georg-o!" Richie said as the Losers arrived.

"Georg _ie_!" the seven-year-old corrected. Richie's failed attempts at creating nicknames for everyone got really tiresome at times. As their group continued to walk along, Georgie joined Bev, who was new to Bill's group of friends. "Hi, Beverly!" Georgie said.

"Hey, Georgie! How was your day today?" Bev asked as she held Georgie's small hand. She didn't seem to pay any mind to the fact that he was recently sick.

"It was okay. Nothin' too special."

"Really? Well, that's sad to hear," Beverly said. "School is all downhill from second grade."

Georgie looked over at Ben, who was their newest friend that Georgie had met. Ben met eyes with Georgie and smiled, but he didn't say anything to him. He didn't talk much aside from the first time he met Georgie. But that was okay. It was a nice change of pace from the rest of the Losers. Speaking of which,

"No, there's no way!" Richie yelled. "Spider-Man would totally kick Batman's ass!"

"What?! How?" Bill said.

"'Cause Batman has no powers, duh! He's just got his gadgets! Spider-Man has his webs. And his spidey-sense!"

"Yeah, I think Richie has a point there, Bill," Eddie said.

"Well, I st-still think Batman is a b-better character," Bill said.

"Doesn't mean Spider-Man wouldn't wipe the floor with him!" Richie countered.

"Why are we even having this discussion?" Stan asked. "Spider-Man and Batman don't even live in the same universe."

"I dunno, it was just something to think about," Richie said.

As they continued to stroll along the sidewalk, Mike came up, riding on his bike. "Hey, guys, what's up?" he said as a he came to a stop.

"Hey, Mike," Bill said. "How've you b-been?"

"Eh, okay. Just doing my delivery round right now." Mike spotted a small figure hiding behind Bill shyly. "Hey, who's that?" Mike smiled.

"Th-this is Georgie, my little brother." Bill pulled Georgie out from behind him. "This is Mike, Georgie. He's our n-new friend. W-w-wanna say 'hi' to him?"

"Hey, Georgie!" Mike greeted cheerfully. "What's goin' on?"

"Hi," Georgie spoke quietly as he waved at Mike.

"I don't know w-w-why he gets like this. Every t-time he meets someone new, he gets really sh-shy, so don't take it personally."

"It's all good," Mike replied. "I get it, Georgie, it's hard to meet new people sometimes." Mike turned to Bill. "Do ya'll mind if I walk with you guys?"

"N-n-no, of course not! We're happy t-to have you around," Bill said.

As the gang continued walking, Georgie asked Bill, "How come Mike doesn't go to school with you?"

"Mike is ho-homeschooled," Bill answered.

"You go to school at home?!" Georgie asked enthusiastically.

"Yeah," Mike responded succinctly.

"That's awesome! I wish I could do that!"

Mike chuckled. "It's not as great as you'd think."

"Why not?"

"Well, my grandma's a fine enough tutor, but…I get kinda lonely on the farm. I miss out on stuff like…well, this," Mike gestured to the group of friends. "You know? I feel like I'm missin' out on making friends."

"Well, you have us as friends now," Ben said, a rare occasion for him.

"Yeah, and I really can't express enough how grateful I am of you guys, even though we haven't known each other for very long."

"Wait, did you say you live on a farm?" Georgie interrupted innocently.

Mike smiled amusedly and said, "Yeah. Maybe I can have you guys come over one of these days."

"That'd be fun!" Beverly said.

"Yeah, I'd be down for that," Ben agreed.

"Do you have animals on your farm?" Georgie asked.

"We do, actually. We got sheep, chickens, and pigs."

"Awww, I wanna go, Billy! Let's go!"

"Well, n-not today, Georgie. Whenever Mike d-decides to invite us."

"We'll definitely have to do that soon, then," Mike said cheerfully. "I'd be more than happy to have you guys over."

As the Losers continued to walk home, their group began to thin out as everybody took their separate paths home, until it was only Bill and Georgie left walking down Witcham Street towards their house. "So, w-what do you think of M-Mike, Georgie?" Bill asked.

"I think he's nice. I can't wait to go to his farm and see all the animals!"

"Yeah, th-that would be fun."

"Don't you think it's kinda weird how many friends you've been making recently, Bill? I mean, for the longest time, you only had three friends, not counting myself, since I know I'm your  _best_  best. But now you have six!"

"Yeah. It is kinda w-weird how that happened. But it feels r-r-right…for some reason. I dunno."

"Hey, next week is Halloween!" Georgie excitedly realized. "We should all go trick-or-treating together! We'd be a huge group! It'd be so much fun!"

"Yeah, that would b-be fun, huh? I'll l-let everyone know. Hopefully they c-can all come."

"I'm liking you with these new friends, now! They're certainly better than Richie!"

" _All_  my friends are better than Richie," Bill joked as they arrived home.


	16. Beautiful Soul

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back with another chapter! I'm sorry this took a little longer than I wanted it to, but at least it didn't take as long as it took me to post that last chapter! I've just been busy with finals, as well as going to a convention to meet the cast of It! That was a lot of fun! But anyways, I'm done with school now, so I have more time to write! Yay!
> 
> I would say this chapter takes place after "Trick-or-Treat", probably sometime during the following November

Bill, Beverly, Richie, Eddie, Stan, and Ben all rode together on their bikes toward the Hanlon Farm to get a personal tour from their relatively new friend, Mike. Georgie sat behind Bill on Sliver, Bill's bike, clinging to the back of his big brother like a baby koala. He was thrilled at the thought of seeing all the animals on the farm.

As they approached the farm, they saw Mike waiting at the entrance. "Welcome to the Hanlon Farm, everybody," Mike greeted as the other Losers all parked and got off their bikes. "C'mon, I'll take y'all out back." Mike led them back toward the area where all the barns and animal pens were located.

"I wanna see the animals!" Georgie said impatiently.

"Th-that's where we're going now, Georgie," Bill said, placating his brother.

"Yep. We got all sorts of animals here, Georgie," Mike elaborated. "I think you'll like them."

As the Losers got closer to the animals, the overwhelming odor of their fecal matter grew ever stronger. "Gross, it smells disgusting here!" Eddie said as he covered his nose.

"No, shit, Eddie!" Richie said. "We're on a farm with animals! What did you expect?"

"It smells like the bathroom after Billy uses it!" Georgie said mischievously.

Richie burst out into a fit of laughter at Georgie's remark. "Nah, it still smells better than Bill," Richie retorted, causing Georgie to giggle.

"B-b-beep, beep, Richie!" Bill said, unamused.

To their right was a large chicken pen with a wooden fence and several coops inside. Chickens were roaming around peacefully, clucking softly and pecking at the occasional seed on the ground.

"Ooooh, look at the chickens!" Georgie exclaimed as he leaned against the fence of the pen. He then went into the pen and started chasing the chickens around, laughing and saying, "Here, chicky-chicky-chickens! Come here!" The chickens all scurried and fluttered away from the little terrorizer.

"Well, looks like all Hell broke lose in the chicken pen," Stan said dryly.

"G-Georgie!" Bill scolded. "Get outta there! You're scaring them!"

"Don't worry, Bill, I'll round 'im up," Mike said. "I just hope he doesn't scare the chickens to death," he chuckled. As he entered the pen, he said loudly, "Georgie! Some new baby chicks just hatched not too long ago. Wanna see 'em?"

Georgie immediately stopped in his tracks at the promise of baby animals. "Yeah!" the boy squealed.

Mike lead the young boy over to one of the chicken coops. He knelt down and looked inside. He rummaged around for a minute or so and popped back out of the coop with a fuzzy, yellow, little chick cupped inside his hands. "Here's one!" Mike said gently as he placed the chick in Georgie's hand. "Isn't he cute?"

"Aww, yeah!" Georgie said as he raised the chick close to his face. "Hi, there, little chick! You're so cute and fuzzy!"

"Be gentle with him, Georgie," Mike said.

"I know," Georgie responded. The little chick started chirping, and Georgie rubbed his cheek against the tiny, yellow bird. "You're so soft, little chicky!"

"Yeah, they are pretty soft, huh?" Mike said while soothing one of the adult hens. He needed to calm her down after Georgie caused such a scare. He felt her heart rate drop, and he assured her through the calmness in his eyes that everything was going to be fine. Whereas any other person may have just seen expressionless eyes on the chicken, Mike saw the beautiful soul of a fellow living creature within. It was times like these that really hurt Mike to think of what they eventually had to do to some of these chickens here on the farm. But now certainly wasn't the time to bring that up. He wanted to let Georgie live in blissful naivety, at least for now. He shouldn't have to go through the harsh realization that Mike once had to endure when he was around his same age.

"Ow! Hey, knock it off, cock face!" Both Mike and Georgie whipped their heads around to see Richie's feet being pecked by a rooster.

"Richie, don't s-say that!" Bill said. "G-Georgie's here, remember?"

"But that's what he is, Bill. A cock. I'm not wrong," Richie said in a smartass tone.

"That's a rooster, you dummy!" Georgie said.

"'Cock' is another word for 'rooster', you  _dummy_ ," Richie fired back.

"No, d-don't teach him that word!" Bill said frustratedly. He turned to Georgie and said, "Don't say that w-w-word, Georgie!" He then turned back to Richie. "Second, you d-don't call my brother a d-dummy."

"Wha— _he's_  the one who called  _me_  a dummy in the first place!"

"Why are you g-getting into arguments with a s-s-seven-year-old?"

"'Cause he's Richie, that's why," Stan said.

"I wanna see the other animals now," Georgie said as he got up from his knees.

"Alright, let me just put the chick back," Mike said as he took the chick out of Georgie's hands and placed him back into the coop.

Mike then led the group to a large pen where all the pigs were lazily basking in the mud.

"Ick, pigs are so frickin' disgusting," Eddie ranted to himself. "I mean, they literally lie around in their filth all day!"

"I don't know, Eddie, that doesn't sound too far off from a description of your mom!"

"Fuck off, Richie!"

"Eddie! G-Georgie's here, r-remember?"

"Oh, right. Sorry, Bill. It's just  _really_  hard not to cuss when Richie's around."

"Hey, it's not my fault you don't know how to control your temper," Richie said slyly.

Georgie began to climb up the fence of the pen to join the swine before Bill grabbed him by the shirt and set him down. "Oh, n-no, you don't!" Bill said. "M-Mom's gonna  _kill_  me if I bring you home covered in mud!"

Georgie giggled. "Aw, I wanted to pet the piggies!"

"The pigs aren't good to pet anyways, Georgie," Mike said. "Their skin is pretty coarse. But the sheep are very fluffy; you'll like to pet them. C'mon, I'll show you."

The sheep were currently grazing out on a pasture. Mike lead the group to the flock and said, "Here they are. They won't mind if you go up and pet them."

The Losers all spread out and started to pet some of the sheep. "Ew, I can't believe you're just going to pet them!" Eddie said, supposedly addressing all of the Losers, but he seemed to be targeting most of his disgust towards Richie. "They're probably all infested with fleas!"

"It's alright, Eddie, they don't have fleas," Mike assured. "I already checked them; they're all clean."

Georgie started petting an adult sheep, but then Beverly called him over saying, "Hey, Georgie, come here! I found a cute, little lamb for you to pet over here!" Georgie rushed over to where Beverly was and began petting the lamb. The little sheep then started to gently lick Georgie's hand. "That tickles!" Georgie laughed.

"That means he must like you!" Mike said.

"I like him, too!" Georgie sat down on the grass and pulled the lamb into his lap. The boy had so much love and compassion in his eyes. Mike could see that, and he figured the lamb could see it, too, which was why he was so calm around the boy. It was something Mike had as well—especially when he was younger.

It took him back to that time, back when Mike still had his parents. He loved all the animals on this farm much like the young Denbrough did. They were his only friends. The only ones he felt comfortable around, the only ones he could sincerely talk to, the only ones around which he felt he could truly be himself. So, as one might imagine, it was quite earth-shattering to realize that the very animals he shared a heart-to-heart talk with one day could have been the same ones he'd be eating for dinner the next. It was devastating. Heart-wrenching. Disorienting. Disenchanting. Disillusioning. All the same feelings he felt once again when his parents burned that fateful day.

But Georgie's innocence didn't have to be shattered quite as early as Mike's was. Mike wanted him to live in ignorant bliss for as long as he could. He'd let someone else be the one to break his child naivety. And hopefully that wouldn't happen  _too_  soon. Children deserve to be raised in a world where they feel comfortable to discover who they are, where they don't have to worry about their parents not being there for them, or where they don't feel like all the people in town see them as an outsider. Or, yes, where they don't have to come to grips with the reality that the very lamb they're petting right now could be served to them the next day as lamb chops. It was a hard reality for Mike to face even to this day, and he had been dealing with it for almost ten years now. It hurt him to know that the little lamb Georgie loved so much would be up to the slaughter later on in his life. It was the reason Mike didn't form as close bonds to the animals as much as he used to. It was easier that way. Not by much, but a little. But it made Mike yearn for emotional attachment all the more, especially with his parents being gone.

It seemed like the Losers were the exact thing he needed in his life. He had never felt so accepted before, and ironically, it came from a group of people who themselves never felt accepted by anyone else. But Mike supposed that's what they all had in common, and that's what brought them closer together. So, Mike decided to forget about the animal killing and his dead parents for now. They would be there, ready to trouble him soon enough anyways. He hadn't truly felt this happy in his life for a long time, and he didn't want to ruin this moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Yes, I do realize that Ben had no lines in this chapter and Beverly only had one; I just couldn't think of much that they could've said in this chapter, to be quite honest. It's a bit hard to juggle eight characters all together and make sure each of them has a significant enough presence. Naturally, some of them are going to be pushed to the sidelines. But I am trying to get better with this. Thank you so much for reading!


	17. Georgie in the Bull Pen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is chapter is pretty much just Bill and Georgie talking with each other. It's not very eventful, but I still had fun writing it, and I think it came out pretty well. Once again, Bill is acting as a wise sage to Georgie, just dumping a bunch of knowledge on him XD Oh, well. Georgie does look up to him, so I think he does feel like he needs to give him some life lessons. Well, anyways, I hope you all enjoy!

Bill walked along the sidewalk from Derry High School, past Derry Middle School, and towards Derry Elementary School to pick up Georgie. It had always annoyed him how generic all the names for their schools were—as if the small town itself wasn't generic enough. But as small as it was, at least one could say that Derry was safe, aside from the occasional bully, like Bowers and his goons.

The older Denbrough sibling was riding solo at the moment, since the other Losers all went off on their own to hang out at the arcade. Bill was still thinking about maybe joining them later on, but he had to make sure he walked Georgie home first. Sometimes Bill wished he could just bring Georgie along with them, but his mom had a strict rule that Georgie had to come straight home after school on weekdays.

Once Bill arrived at the elementary school, he spotted Georgie waiting out front, and he waved at him. Georgie joined his brother quickly after, and they began walking home. "So, how was your d-d-day?" Bill asked.

"I don't know, it was okay," Georgie replied.

"You don't s-sound too enthusiastic ab-about it. There s-something wrong?"

"I just had a boring day, okay?" Georgie lashed out. "There's nothing wrong with me."

Bill could tell there certainly was something wrong, but he didn't want to keep pushing. He wanted Georgie to tell him on his own. So, he said, "Alright, that's fine. J-j-just don't be afraid to tell me if there is s-s-something wrong. I don't m-mind listening."

"Okay," Georgie said. He stayed silent for a few minutes and decided to focus his attention on continuously kicking a small rock down the sidewalk until he caught up with it so he could kick it again. After he grew bored of that, he eventually mustered up some courage to say, "I mean, I guess there is something, but it's not a huge deal or anything."

"Okay. W-w-would you mind t-telling me about it?"

"Well…do you think I'm a loser, Bill?"

"What do you m-mean? Who called you a loser?"

"Derek."

"Derek? He's the one wh-wh-who's given you trouble before, right?"

"Yeah, I don't know why he hates me so much. Today he said I was such a loser 'cause I'm so weird."

"Why does he th-th-think you're w-weird?"

"I don't know. I think everyone besides my three friends thinks I'm weird. Maybe I  _am_  a little crazy, but I can't help it; that's just who I am."

"Well, I d-definitely prefer you the way you are th-than if you were just b-boring and like everyone else. It's okay to be w-weird. All my f-fr-friends are weird."

"Yeah, and about that, he also said I was a loser for only having three 'dumb' friends."

"He called your friends 'd-dumb', too?"

"Yeah. He said I was a sissy for having two girls as my friends, and that Dorsey is a sissy, too, so he doesn't count."

Bill tightly gripped the handlebars on Silver in rage. This kid seemed like a real little shit. How dare that brat talk about his brother and his friends that way. Bill wanted to beat the snot-nosed, little punk the next time he ran into him…but he knew it wouldn't be worth it. "Well, you kn-know better than to actually listen to him, r-r-right Georgie? He's just a huge j-j-jerk, and everything he said i-is wrong."

"You think so?"

"Yeah. There's n-nothing wrong with having o-only three friends. For the longest time,  _I_  only had th-three friends."

"Yeah, but everyone called you losers. They  _still_  call you guys losers."

"Well…true." Bill snickered. "Way to be b-b-brutally honest, Georgie."

" _I_  don't think you guys are losers; I'm just saying that's what others call you."

"Okay, well, that's e-exactly it. Just because this s-s-stupid jerk calls you a loser doesn't mean y-you are one. I personally d-don't think you're a loser at all. And wh-who cares if you're friends with g-g-girls? You like Anna and Katie, d-don't you?"

"Yeah, they're really nice to me, and we have fun together."

"Then that's all that m-m-matters! They're your friends, and s-so long as you like being with them, you sh-shouldn't let anyone else tell you wh-who you should be friends with. Same thing with D-Dorsey. I don't know him too m-much, but he seems like a n-n-nice kid."

"He is, and he's really funny! And we've been friends ever since preschool."

"See? You sh-sh-shouldn't be ashamed of who you're f-friends with. I'll let you in on a little secret. I used to be ash-shamed of my friends sometimes. I wasn't proud of it, but th-th-that's just how I felt. I felt like they were s-sorta dragging me down—that if I w-wasn't friends with them, I w-wouldn't be a loser anymore, and I m-might even be able to be p-p-popular. But you know what?"

"What?"

"I realized that I was wrong—that b-b-being popular doesn't matter. All that matters is th-that you like being with the people a-a-around you, and if that m-means you'll get called a loser, then s-so be it. Who care wh-what other people think anyways? Don't l-l-let them have control over your l-life."

"Okay."

"I really mean it. Don't let a-a-anyone take away y-your happiness from you."

"Alright. Thanks, Billy. You're always able to make me feel better."

"Nothing m-makes me happier, Georgie."

"So, then what should I do if Derek says something mean to me again?"

"Just let me know, and I'll k-kick his butt!"

"Really?!" Georgie said excitedly.

"No, not really, Georgie."

"Aww," the little Denbrough said disappointedly.

"Well, I'd g-get in trouble if I did that. But I'll t-t-tell you what you  _can_  do. Let him say those things. But j-just ignore him. They're just w-words; they can't hurt you."

"But sometimes words  _can_  hurt. Just in a different way."

"Yeah, believe me, I get that. But it's u-up to you to make sure they don't hu-hurt anymore. Just remember that wh-whatever he says isn't true, and it d-d-doesn't matter whatsoever. He's just a p-pathetic jerk who is probably feeling i-i-insecure about himself, so he takes it out on you."

"What do you mean 'insecure'?"

"Well, I guess it…s-s-sorta means he's not happy with himself, s-so he wants to make o-others feel unhappy about themselves, t-too. But you gotta p-promise me that you w-w-won't let him. Okay?"

"Okay."

"I'm s-so proud of you, G-Georgie, I really am. And I never want you to f-forget that. Your whole family is s-super proud of you, and you have n-n-nothing to be ashamed of."

"Okay. Thanks, Billy," Georgie said. He warmly smiled at his older brother as they continued to stroll down the sidewalk towards home.


	18. A New Friend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter takes place around a couple days after the last one, "Georgie in the Bull Pen".

Recess finally arrived—what would normally be Georgie's favorite part of the school day. But today, he was dreading recess, because his three friends all happened to be gone from school today. Katie was on a week-long trip visiting her family in Florida, Anna had been sick with the stomach flu for three days up to this point, and Dorsey caught the same bug just yesterday. So now Georgie was left all alone. Talk about bad luck.

Georgie went over to the swing set and sat on one of the swings forlornly. Georgie always either had Bill or one of his other friends to push him on the swings. He hadn't learned how to swing on his own yet, so he just sat there miserably, kicking at the ground.

"Whaddya doin', Georgie?" Georgie whipped his head around in surprise at the sudden voice coming from behind him and saw that it was Derek.  _Oh, great._  "Aw, looks like all of your friends are gone today. How sad. Looks like even  _they_  don't like you!"

Georgie remembered what Bill had told him.  _Just ignore his words. Don't let them get to you._  So, Georgie continued sitting on the swing, minding his own business.

"They probably don't want to be your friend anymore because of how  _stupid_  you are! It's no wonder; you're always bumping your head on things, probably causing brain damage. Like when you weren't looking that one time, and you bumped into that pole," Derek gestured to one of the poles supporting the monkey bars. "That was so funny! How stupid can you get?"

_Remember what Billy said. Don't listen to anything he says, because it's not true. You're not stupid._

Derek noticed that he wasn't reacting, so he tried a different angle. "And you stink, too! Maybe that's why all your friends left you. Not even flies want to be around you! To be honest, your friends probably got sick because of your smell."

_But…I take a bath every day. This is a lot harder than Billy made it seem. If I know what he's saying isn't true…why does it still hurt?_

"What, you have nothing to say, Georgie? Did you bump your head one too many times? You have brain damage now? Can't talk?"

"Why do you hate me so much?" Georgie said with tears welling up in his eyes. He tried as hard as he could not to cry. He didn't want to look weak, especially not in front of Derek. But…he couldn't hold it back. As much as he tried, there was nothing he could do to stop the tears from flowing out.

"Oh, so you can talk after all! And you're crying, too? See, I told you you're a sissy! That's what happens when you hang around girls too much."

The embarrassment, guilt, and sadness Georgie felt was all starting to turn into rage. Hot, furious, boiling rage. Just like the tears, Georgie couldn't hold it back any longer. "SHUT UP!" Georgie screamed as his whole head turned red and his veins started bulging.

Derek laughed in response. That wasn't the reaction Georgie was hoping for. "Whoa, calm down, Georgie! You're getting way too worked up over this."

 _Too worked up? Too worked up?! How can anyone_ not _get worked up after hearing all those horrible things he said to me?_

"Leave him alone, Derek! Go be a jerk to someone else for once!" one kid said bravely. Georgie had never met this kid before, but he already liked him.

"Looks like you finally found a big enough loser to hang out with you, George," Derek said as he walked off.

"Don't listen to anything he says," the boy said to Georgie. "He's just a huge idiot."

Georgie laughed. "I'm glad you think so, too."

"My name's Avery," the boy said. "What's yours?"

"Georgie."

"Nice to meet you, Georgie! Do you wanna be friends?"

"Sure!" Georgie certainly needed a friend right now.

Avery sat on the swing next to him. "Here, I'll show you how to swing all by yourself! It's real easy! When you swing forward, you stick out your legs straight. When you go backwards, you tuck in your legs." Avery demonstrated this as he was explaining it to Georgie. "And just keep doing that, and you'll go higher and higher!"

Georgie tried doing it, and he realized that he actually  _was_  going higher with each swing! He was actually doing it! Without anyone having to push him! He felt freer than he ever had before! He felt like a bird soaring through the sky, without a care in the world!

"You're doing it, Georgie!" Avery cheered. "Look at you go!"

"I am! I'm going so high!"

Suddenly, the school bell rang, signaling the end of recess. "Oh, no," Avery said as he stopped swinging.

"Aw, just as I was starting to have fun again," Georgie said dejectedly.

"We can play more at lunch time!" Avery said.

"Okay! See you, Avery!" Georgie said as he went back to his classroom.

* * *

As Bill came to pick up Georgie at school, he noticed that he seemed a bit more cheerful than usual.

"Hi, Billy!" Georgie chirped as he skipped up to his brother.

"You s-s-seem like you're in a g-g-good mood today," Bill said.

"I am!"

"Good! And wh-why's that?"

"Well, today didn't start out too good. Derek was bullying me again. But then this other kid came in and told him to go away, and then I became friends with the other kid!"

"Oh, that's g-great!"

"Yep! His name is Avery! He taught me how to swing all by myself! I went so high, Billy!"

"All by y-yourself?! I'm s-so proud of you, Georgie!"

"Uh-huh! And then we sat together at lunch and talked together. Then we played  _Star Wars_ at lunch recess! I was Luke and he was Han Solo."

"I'm so happy you m-made a new friend!"

"Me too! And I'm sure my other friends will like him too! You know, he was telling me at lunch today that he also has a big brother, just like me and Dorsey."

"Really? Th-th-that's cool!"

"Well…except that he was saying that he doesn't like his big brother."

"Why not?"

"He said he's really mean to him. He doesn't think his brother even loves him at all."

"That's awful."

"Yeah, I know. And that's why he stopped Derek from bullying me; he hates to see other people get bullied, since his brother bullies  _him_  all the time."

"That's n-nice of him, then. It's a sh-shame about his brother, though. Did he s-s-say how old his brother was? Or wh-wh-what his name is?" Bill was curious if it was anyone he knew.

"No."

"Okay."  _Worth a shot._  "Well, I'm glad y-y-you two became friends. Seems like he was in n-need of one."

"I'm glad we became friends, too," Georgie said happily as he thought of all the fun and excitement that was in store with his new friendship.


	19. First Day of Summer

The day was finally here—possibly the best day of the year to Georgie, second only to Christmas. The last day of school. Which in turn also meant the first day of summer vacation! Once the school day had finished, of course. And it had now come to the most important part of the day: the final ring of the school bell. Georgie packed up his backpack and scrambled out of the classroom along with all the other students as his teacher said, "Have a good summer, everyone!"

Georgie, Dorsey, Katie, and Anna all walked down the hall together toward the front exit of the school. "We're officially third graders!" Dorsey said.

"Well, not quite," Georgie said, "since we haven't officially started third grade yet. We're more like…second-and-a-half graders!" Everyone laughed.

As they exited the school building and entered into the bright outdoors, Georgie felt as if the world was just as happy as he was at that moment. The sun was shining brightly, there wasn't a cloud in the brilliant, blue sky, and the air was warm and welcoming. Bees and butterflies flittered from one beautiful blooming flower to the next, and the birds all chirped and twittered in a melodious harmony from the trees. Summer was definitely in the air. Georgie's friends all had their rides to pick them up, so they greeted each other farewell. But Georgie knew he would see them all again soon during the summer break, so he wasn't too upset about saying goodbye.

"Hey, Georgie!" Georgie turned around and saw Avery walking towards him.

"Oh, hi, Avery!"

"Could I come over to your house? You know, since it's the first day of summer and everything?"

"You mean…now?"

"Yeah. That's alright with you, isn't it?"

"That's alright with  _me_ , but…what about your parents? Did  _they_  say it's alright?"

"I'm sure they won't mind. But what about  _your_  parents?"

"I…don't know. Guess you can come walk home with me and Bill and find out."

"Fine by me."

Georgie saw Bill making his way toward the elementary school, so he and Avery started walking toward him.

"Hey, Georgie," Bill greeted.

"Hi, Bill! This is Avery. I don't think you've met him before."

"No, it's nice to m-meet you, A-Avery! Georgie told me a lot of g-g-good things about you."

"Nice to meet you, too, Bill." Avery noticed Bill's stutter, which Georgie had never told him about before, but he didn't mind. He imagined Bill already got bullied enough about it, so he didn't even want to bring it up.

"Is it alright if Avery walks home with us?" Georgie asked Bill. "We wanna ask Mom if it's okay that he stays over at our house today."

"Okay, s-sure," Bill said as they started making their way home.

* * *

Bill felt good to finally be off for summer break. He had finished his first year of high school, which seemed like an enormous feat. The thought that he still had to go through three more grueling years was one he didn't want to acknowledge for the next three months. Now was the time for friends, fun, and relaxation. He was currently sitting on his bed in his room, sketching some ideas he had floating around in his head—ideas of creepy monsters and creatures. He always enjoyed showing off his creature designs to Georgie so he could freak him out; the kid was kind of a wimp when it came to monsters.

Then, speak of the devil, Georgie came rushing into Bill's room excitedly and said, "Mom said it was okay for Avery to stay over!"

"Great! Have fun!" Bill said as Georgie dashed downstairs just as quickly as he had arrived.

Bill could hear the excited shrieks of the two boys from downstairs as they played. He was glad his brother found a new friend, because often times, he got lonely whenever he wasn't at school. Georgie's other three friends rarely ever came over to visit him, at least compared to how often Bill's friends came over. So, Georgie often had to rely on Bill to be his friend, or sometimes the other Losers. But Bill enjoyed being Georgie's friend very much. He often felt as if Georgie  _was_  his best friend, although he would never admit this to any of his friends out loud. It sounded a bit strange that a seven-year-old could be his best friend. Although the other Losers liked Georgie a lot, they were all a little too old to be proper friends to him, so Bill sort of felt like it was his sole duty to be Georgie's friend. He understood him and respected him in a way the others didn't, and a lot of that probably just came from knowing him from birth, to be fair. But Bill was excited nonetheless that Georgie would be able to spend more time with kids his own age. He really needed that.

Rather than being cooped up alone inside his room, Bill thought it would be better if he went downstairs to join the boys while he continued sketching. He trotted down the stairs with his sketchbook in hand, walked over to the living room, and seated himself on the couch.

"Oh, hey, Billy!" Georgie said excitedly at the sight of his big brother. Georgie and Avery were currently playing  _Super Mario Bros._  on the TV. Even though they had the sequel, Georgie seemed to enjoy playing the first game more. Bill had to agree.

After they had finished playing, Avery asked Bill, "What are you drawing?" Bill showed off his grisly drawings to Georgie and Avery. Georgie seemed slightly disturbed, but Avery was intrigued. "What do you call that thing?" Avery asked, pointing to a creature with a single eye, five rows of needle-like teeth, and a huge, curving horn protruding from its forehead.

"I call it…" Bill paused, because truthfully, he hadn't thought up a name for it yet, "Armadon." The name had just popped out of Bill's mouth, but it seemed to suit the monster well.

"He's scary," Georgie said.

"He is," Bill said. "And if you're not careful," Bill took a blanket that was lying on the couch and wrapped himself in it, concealing his body and face, "the Armadon is gonna get you!" Bill lunged toward Georgie, but the younger Denbrough jumped out of the way just in time, letting out a loud shriek. Bill started to chase Georgie around the house while growling monstrously. Georgie scampered away as fast as he could, laughing and screaming at the same time. Then, Bill shifted his focus toward Avery, and he started chasing after him, too, shouting, "Don't think I forgot about you!"

After chasing the two kids around the house to exhaustion, Bill collapsed on the couch to catch his breath. Georgie said, "Looks like the Armydile or whatever isn't so tough after all!" as he and Avery proceeded to tackle Bill while he rested on the couch.

"O-o-okay, okay! You killed the Amadon! That's it! That's it!" Bill pleaded, and the two boys thankfully decided to show him mercy.

"Avery," Sharon said, walking into the living room, "how do you plan on getting home? Are your parents coming to pick you up?"

"Actually…" Avery thought, "my parents don't even know where I am. Could I call them on your phone?"

"Yes, of course. Gosh, I hope your parents aren't too worried."

"Nah, they never worry about me," Avery said as he got up from the couch and walked over to the phone. He dialed in his home phone number and waited for someone to pick up. "Hey, it's me," he greeted. "I'm at my friend's house. Do you know who's picking me up? Okay. Yeah, sure." Avery turned to Sharon and said, "Mrs. Denbrough, could you tell my dad your address, please?"

"Sure thing," Sharon said as she picked up the phone. After she told him the address, she gave the phone back to Avery, then Avery said goodbye and hung up the phone. "So, is your dad going to come pick you up?" Sharon asked.

"No, my brother is. He's on his way now."

"Oh, well, I hope we didn't make you feel rushed to leave early. You could've stayed here a little longer if you wanted to."

"Nah, they wanted me to come back now in time for dinner."

"Okay, then."

* * *

About ten minutes later, Bill looked through the window and saw a crappy, busted-up, old sedan pull up to their house. "Hey, Avery, I th-th-think your b-brother's here," Bill said.

Avery looked out the window and said, "Yep, that's him."

"Come on, m-me and Georgie'll walk you out." Bill got up along with Georgie and Avery, and they made their way toward the front door. Bill was curious to see what Avery's older brother was like.

As they walked down the porch and across the front yard, the front window of the car rolled down, revealing the ugly face of Patrick Hockstetter.  _Oh, shit!_  Bill thought.  _He's Avery's brother?!_  "I-is that your brother, Avery?" Bill asked, just to make sure.

"Yep," he answered.

"Come on, Avery, get in the car," Patrick said impatiently.

"I know, I'm  _coming_. Jeez," Avery said.

"You little shit, you should be grateful I even came to pick you up."

Avery opened the passenger door and got in the car as he said, "But Dad  _made_  you come get me."

"I know, and it's bullshit!" Patrick responded. He then looked up and met eyes with Bill.

Bill's heart stopped.  _Shit, he sees me._

As Patrick started to drive off, he said, "See ya around, B-B-Billy!" He let out a cackle as the car's engine roared away.

Bill could tell Patrick went easy on him this time around, probably because the kids were around. At least it was summer now, so there were less chances of running into the Bowers Gang. Still, Bill knew he would get it big time the next time he encountered Patrick.

"He knows you?" Georgie asked.

"Yeah. Wh-why didn't you tell me Avery's b-b-brother was P-Patrick?"

"I didn't know what his brother's name was. I don't even know Avery's last name."

"Well, it's H-Ho-Hockstetter; I can tell ya that."

"Isn't Patrick one of the guys that bullies you?"

"Yeah. Jeez, Georgie, I didn't know Avery was his brother."

"But Avery's not like that, Billy. You met him; you know he's really nice."

"No, I know he is. I'm just…surprised…that the brother of that psycho could be so nice and so…normal. You sure lucked out on which Hockstetter you got to be in your school." Bill just hoped this wouldn't make his relationship with Patrick even more contentious than it already was. It didn't seem like Patrick cared much for his brother at all, but Bill was sure that Patrick would use any excuse that he could to place more baggage on "the stuttering freak". But then Bill took a step back and realized that even if this made things worse between him and Patrick, that ultimately didn't matter. What truly mattered was that Georgie was happy, and in turn, Avery was happy. And hopefully that wouldn't change.


	20. Fireworks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I'm 16 days late, but here's a Fourth of July chapter for you. I hope you enjoy!

The hot July sun beat down on the streets of Derry as Bill and Georgie walked toward the town square, where the annual Fourth of July festival was always held. They had planned to meet up with the rest of the Losers there. The marching band was getting ready for the parade, the streets were adorned with red-white-and-blue balloons and banners, and several people were handing out American flags and Uncle Sam hats to anyone who wanted them. Georgie took a flag as they walked by.

The other Losers were all waiting underneath the giant Paul Bunyan statue in the town square. "Hey, there's Big Bill!" Richie said excitedly. "And Little George, of course." He patted Georgie on the head. Georgie glared up at Richie as he fixed his hair from being misaligned.

"This is your first Fourth of July in Derry, huh, Ben?" Stan asked.

"Yeah, this is all new to me," Ben replied as he took in all the festivities.

"I have to admit," Mike said, "even though I've lived in Derry all my life, this is the first time I've ever been down here for Fourth of July."

"It's great, isn't it?" Eddie said.

"It sure is something," Mike answered.

"M-m-my parents are gonna get here a li-little later to grill up s-s-some food," Bill said.

"Ah, yes, the Annual Denbrough Fourth of July Cookout!" Richie said in a bad British accent.

"Now with three new additions," Eddie said, smiling and looking at Ben, Mike, and Beverly.

"Ooh, look! There's a clown there!" Georgie pointed to the stage, where a clown stood, making balloon animals for children.

"You w-w-wanna go there?" Bill asked.

"Yeah! I wonder if he can make me an elephant! Or a giraffe!"

"Well, you can count me out," Richie said. "I don't wanna be anywhere near Creepo the Clown."

"That's okay, just m-m-me and Georgie will go."

"I can go with you guys, too," Beverly said, joining Bill and his brother.

"Why don't the rest of us go get some ice cream?" Eddie suggested.

"Sounds good to me," Ben said.

" _All_  food sounds good to you, Ben," Richie said as they started walking toward a nearby ice cream truck.

"Beep, beep, Richie," Stan said.

Zack and Sharon finally finished dragging out the grill from the car to an empty spot in the grassy area of town square. They also brought with them burger patties, hot dogs, buns, huge bags of chips, and cans of various sodas. As they started to set up, they saw Eddie, Richie, Stan, Ben, and Mike walking toward them with ice cream cones in hand.

"What's up, Mr. and Mrs. D?" Richie said.

"Hi, guys," Zack responded.

"Where's Bill and Georgie?" Sharon asked.

Stan answered, "They're with Beverly over by—"

"Oh, they're coming back now," Eddie pointed out.

Bill, Beverly, and Georgie all returned. Georgie had in his hand a yellow giraffe balloon animal. "Mommy, Mommy! Look what that clown made for me!" Georgie said excitedly, running up to his mom to show her the balloon.

"Wow, that's amazing!" Sharon said enthusiastically.

Georgie's attention wandered to the big bag of Lays that his parents brought. "Ooh, yummy!" He said as he picked up the bag.

"Hey, just don't eat all of it," Richie said with a mouth full of ice cream. "Save some for us, too, you little tater chip hog."

Georgie gasped upon seeing the other Losers eating ice cream. "Where'd you get the ice cream? I want ice cream!"

"From that truck over there," Mike said, pointing to the ice cream truck behind them.

"I wanna get an ice cream! I wanna get an ice cream!" Georgie chanted while hopping up and down.

"Okay, okay, hold your horses," Zack said as he reached into his pocket to get his wallet. "Here's some money for you and Bill." He gave a couple bucks to Bill and Georgie each. Georgie dashed toward the truck while Bill straggled behind him.

"Don't you want to get some ice cream, too, Beverly?" Sharon asked.

"No, I'm fine, Mrs. Denbrough, thank you," Bev smiled.

Bill and Georgie returned with their frozen treats. Bill licked on a chocolate ice cream cone while Georgie sucked down a red-white-and-blue Bomb Pop. Red and blue juices ran down all over Georgie's mouth and hands.

"Georgie, look at you!" Sharon said, slightly flustered. "You're a mess!" She grabbed a paper towel from a roll they brought from the car and started wiping the juices off of Georgie. "Now you're going to be all sticky."

"Mom!" Georgie said frustratedly. "I'm trying to eat my popsicle!"

"I know, I'm just cleaning you up a bit."

After everyone finished up their treats, they made their way to find a spot along the sidewalk so that they could get a good view of the parade. With Derry being a small town, the parade wasn't much. It mainly consisted of the town officials waving to the citizens—such as the fire department and the mayor. The highlight was the marching band and their rendition of "The Stars and Stripes Forever", accompanied by a man dressed as Uncle Sam with a real-life bald eagle resting on his arm.

Once the parade had finished, and as the day waned into the afternoon, Zack grilled up a bunch of burgers and hot dogs for everyone to feast on. Richie raised up his can of Coke as he proclaimed, "A toast to the Losers Club! And to the Denbrough parents, too, of course." He then proceeded to take a huge bite out of his hot dog.

"I bet you feel like you have eight kids whenever we're around, huh?" Beverly asked Sharon and Zack.

"Certainly feels like it at times," Zack chuckled.

"But we enjoy all of your company, of course," Sharon added.

The afternoon faded into the evening, which meant it was darker, which meant it was getting closer to the best part of Fourth of July: the fireworks. Zack ignited some sparklers and handed them out to everyone.

"Whoa, these are so cool!" Ben said as he grabbed his sparkler. His face was lit up with childlike wonder and glee. "I've never gotten these back at my old town."

"Yeah, they're  _super_  cool!" Georgie emphasized as he twirled his sparkler around.

"Careful with it, Georgie," Sharon said. "And that goes to all of you, too. Remember, you can still get burned by these."

The grand finale to the day finally came. Fireworks were launched from behind the stage in town square, exploding in brilliant, vibrant colors against the black night sky.

"This is amazing," Mike said in awe. "I've always seen the fireworks from a distance back at the farm, but seeing them so up close is a whole different experience."

"Ooh, look at that one, Billy!" Georgie pointed at a gigantic firework that exploded in sparks of red, yellow, and green.

"Wow, that was a pretty one!" Bill said.

The firework show ended in a finale of about twenty fireworks bursting one right after another, lighting up the dark sky in a bright, rainbow explosion. Everyone in the town square applauded once it had finished.

"How do you top something like that?" Ben asked excitedly.

"You don't," Stan said rather matter-of-factly. "Well, what I mean is, I think we're all gonna start heading home now."

"Yep. You guys wanna help us take all this stuff back to the car?" Zack asked the Losers, indicating the grill and all the supplies they brought with them. "We got an extra seat in the car…maybe room for one more person in the trunk; whoever helps bring back the most things gets a free car ride home!"

"Oh, I'm down for that!" Richie said as he grabbed as many food items as he could manage.

"Hey, don't hog all the stuff!" Eddie said angrily as he picked up whatever was left over by Richie. "Give some other people a chance to help out, too!"

"C'mon, guys, I need that ride home more than any of you!" Mike said as he hauled the grill back to the car.

"He's got a point," Zack said. "And I think that grill is heavier than any of the other stuff combined. I think Mike's won one of the spots so far!"

"Shit! Come on, this isn't fair! Richie took most of the stuff before anyone else had a chance to get any!" Eddie complained as he finally arrived at the car with only the paper towel rolls and lighter fluid in hand.

"I think you lose points for swearing, Eddie!" Sharon chuckled.

"Now we're on a point system? Come on, you guys are just making this up as you go! Besides, I'm the one who has asthma here, so I should win some bonus points for that!"

"True. Still, Richie did bring back more stuff than you!" Sharon said.

"Rules are rules," Zack added. "Sorry, Eddie. I think Richie's got it this time."

"Damn it!"

"Looks like I beat ol' Eddie Spaghetti once again! I can always count on never failing whenever I'm up against you!"

"Beep, beep, big time, Richie," Eddie said, annoyed.

"If it makes you feel any better," Zack said to Eddie, "I think we're gonna be placing Richie in the trunk."

"I don't care!" Richie said. "It's more fun for me back there anyways!"

Zack, Sharon, Bill, Georgie, and Mike got into the car, and Richie squeezed back in the trunk. They all waved goodbye to Stan, Beverly, Ben, and Eddie as they rode home, ending another great Fourth of July.


	21. Stan's (Somewhat Mundane) Adventures in Babysitting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter takes place in May of 1989, so it's actually before the previous two chapters, "First Day of Summer" and "Fireworks".

"Hey, Stan!" Bill said as he came up to Stan's locker. "Can I ask you a f-f-favor?"

"Depends. What's the favor?" Stan responded as he placed his books inside his locker.

"Well, I'm going to be h-ha-hanging out with Bev on Friday e-evening."

"Just you and Bev?" Stan asked. Bill nodded. "Is it a date?"

Bill's face scrunched as if that were an absurd idea. "No, it's n-n-not a date. We're just gonna g-get a bite to eat, then see a movie to-together."

"Sounds like a date to me."

"Well, it's not. We b-b-both agreed it's not a date."

"Sure," Stan smiled slyly. "So what movie are you guys gonna see?"

"P-probably  _Indiana Jones 3_."

"Doesn't sound very romantic to me."

"It's the only good m-m-movie out right now. And besides, like I said, this isn't a d-date!"

"Okay, okay, I get it. Anyways, what's the favor?"

"Oh, yeah. C-can you babysit G-Georgie while I'm out on Friday night?"

"What about your parents?"

"Yeah, they're going out f-f-for dinner to celebrate their anniversary. I c-completely forgot about that wh-when I made plans with Bev. So now, here we are."

"And you can't get anyone else to babysit?"

"Everyone else isn't available. Well, except for R-R-Richie, but there's no way I'm trusting him in my house a-alone with Georgie."

"Yeah, I don't blame you. Okay, fine, I'll do it."

"Great! Th-thank you so much!"

"But I wanna be paid for my services."

"Sure, I'll w-w-work something out with my p-parents to get you paid. Don't worry about that."

* * *

"Make sure you feed Georgie dinner around six or seven o'clock," Sharon said to Stan as she gathered her things for the evening. She wore black high heels and a slim, black dress that went down to her knees—considerably fancy attire for Sharon. "There's some food left over in the fridge. Feel free to eat some, too."

"Okay, thank you, Mrs. Denbrough."

"And try to make sure that Georgie gets his bath, too. Sometimes he may not want to because he's having too much fun, but it'd be nice if you could."

"Yeah, I'll be sure to give it a shot."

"Great! Thank you so much, Stan. Bill really appreciates you doing this."

"Of course; I'm happy to help," Stan smiled.

Georgie came into the parlor from the living room to greet Stan. "Hey, Stan," he said.

"Hey, Georgie."

Zack and Bill then came down the stairs, said goodbye to Stan, and joined Sharon out the front door. The door shut behind them, leaving Stan alone with Georgie. "So…um…what do you wanna do, Georgie?" Stan asked.

"I don't know," Georgie shrugged.

"Well…what do you normally like to do? When Bill's here?"

"We do lots of things together. Sometimes we play games, we watch TV, we draw…or we hang out with you guys!" Georgie chuckled.

"Right. Yeah. Well…I can't really draw, so that's out of the question. Um…so what games do you guys play?"

"All kinds! You know, sometimes we play video games, sometimes we play outside, but I like to play pretend with Bill most of all!"

"Really?" Stan said skeptically. "I have a hard time believing Bill plays pretend with you."

"He doesn't do it as much as he used to, but he still does. We have this thing called 'The Bed Game'. It's where he pretends to be a character, and the bed is a cliff on top of lava. Then, I push him off the bed into the lava!"

"Can he push  _you_  into the lava?"

"Mmm, nope, he's never tried."

"So…it's a 'game', but you always win?"

"Yeah, pretty much. It's really fun, though!"

"'Kay. So do you want to play 'The Bed Game' with  _me_?"

"Mm, I don't know if you're good enough," Georgie said, mocking smugness. "But we'll see what you got. Who are you going to be?"

"What do you mean, 'who am I going to be?'"

"What character? Bill always picks a character that he plays as—like Shredder, or Captain Hook, or Darth Vader."

"Oh. Umm…I guess I'll be…I don't know, Popeye?" It was the first random character that came into Stan's head.

"Okay! That sounds fun! Come on, let's go!" Georgie dashed up the stairs and straight into Bill's bedroom.

"Shouldn't we do this on  _your_  bed?" Stan said as he followed Georgie into Bill's room. "You know, since Bill isn't here and all?"

"Nah, we always do it on his bed. My bed is too small, and it's up against a wall. This one's better."

"Okay, whatever you say," Stan said as he took off his shoes.

"You ready?" Georgie asked.

"Yeah. Do…do I just…what do I do?"

"Be Popeye, like you said! Get on the bed, and I try to push you off!"

"Okay, I'm Popeye," Stan said halfheartedly in his regular voice. "Where's my spinach?" He climbed onto Bill's bed, where Georgie was waiting.

"You can't have your spinach! I threw it all away!" Georgie giggled maniacally.

"Oh…darn it." This was one of the most awkward things Stan had to do in quite some time.

Georgie started to push Stan's body off the bed with his feet.

"Ew, you didn't tell me you were going to push me with your  _feet_!"

"That's how I always do it with Billy!"

"Well, I'm not Billy." Georgie managed to quickly push Stan off the bed. Stan got up from the floor and put his shoes back on. "How 'bout we do something else?"

"It's more fun with Billy. It felt different with you. Maybe because you didn't do the voice. You should've done the voice."

"I don't do voices. Ask Richie for that."

"Bill's good with voices, too."

"Okay, then ask Bill, too. Just not me."

"And it's more fun to push you off with my feet. Bill doesn't mind that I use my feet."

"I guess 'cause he's your brother. But to me, it's disgusting. I have no idea where your feet have been."

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry I even made you play the game in the first place."

"No, don't be sorry. It's not your fault. The game just isn't for me. Is there anything else we can do?"

"We can watch TV, I guess."

"Well, I'm not sure if there's anything suitable for children on right now. But maybe if you have some movies on tape or something, we could watch that."

"Oh, yeah, we got tons of movies!" Georgie led Stan downstairs and into the living room. He opened up a little cupboard underneath the TV filled with VHS tapes. They mainly consisted of Disney movies for Georgie and monster and horror movies for Bill. "What do you want to watch, Stanny?"

"Hm," Stan scanned through the various movies they could watch. "Well, your brother's out watching an  _Indiana Jones_  movie, so maybe we could watch one on our own here."

"Okay!"

"Which one do you want to watch?" Stan asked.

"Mmm…this one!" Georgie pulled out  _Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom_. "I like this one."

"Fine by me." Stan popped the tape into the VCR and sat with Georgie on the couch in front of the TV to watch the movie.

Once the movie reached the part where the people in the palace were feasting on live snakes, beetles, eyeball soup, and monkey brains, Georgie's stomach started to growl. "You hungry?" Stan asked.

"Yeah…but I don't wanna eat  _that_  sort of food!" Georgie said, pointing at the screen and laughing.

Stan laughed along. "No, don't worry, I'll get you some real food." Stan got up from the couch and walked to the refrigerator in the kitchen. He opened up the fridge and asked, "What do you feel like eating, Georgie?"

"Let me see," Georgie got up from the couch as well and joined Stan in the kitchen. He perused through the fridge and ultimately decided, "Ooh, I want spaghetti!" He pointed to a Tupperware filled with leftover spaghetti from the previous night's dinner.

"That's it? Just spaghetti?"

"Yeah!"

"You sure that'll be enough for you?"

"Uh-huh!"

"Okay." Stan forgot how small the appetite of a little kid could be. He warmed up the spaghetti in the microwave and split up the pasta amongst himself and Georgie. They then took their food back to the couch and continued watching the movie.

They had come to the part in the movie where the cultist priest ripped the beating heart out from a sacrifice victim, placed him in a cage, and lowered him into a pit of molten lava, all while the victim was screaming his lungs out in horror. Stan turned to Georgie and said, "Jeez, you sure you're not scared by this, Georgie?"

"No, I've seen this movie before, Stan."

"Okay, just making sure." It seemed a bit odd as to which things scared Georgie and which things didn't. In some cases, like this one, it seemed like Georgie was a brave kid and could handle a lot. But other times, he was a complete wimp. At least Stan wouldn't have to deal with the wimp side of Georgie tonight.

As the movie progressed, it appeared that Georgie was becoming more and more restless. He began throwing pillows at Stan for no apparent reason and started playing with his plush elephant and turtle rather than focusing on the movie. So, Stan suggested, "Wanna do something else, Georgie?"

"Mmm, okay, sure."

"What do you wanna do?"

"Hmm…" Georgie pondered for a moment. "Dessert!"

"Do you guys have anything for dessert?"

"Yeah, let me show ya!" Georgie ran off into the kitchen while Stan ejected the videotape from the VCR and put it back in its slipcase. Stan then joined Georgie, who was at the freezer. The boy opened it up and took out a three-pint container of chocolate ice cream. "Want some?" Georgie asked.

"Sure," Stan responded. "Here, let me take that." Stan grabbed two bowls from a cupboard, scooped out the ice cream, and distributed it into the two bowls. He and Georgie sat at the dining table to eat their dessert. Stan noticed some drawings laid out on the table. He asked Georgie, "Did you do these?"

"Uh-huh," Georgie answered with a mouthful of ice cream.

"These are great. Way better than I ever could. You're really imaginative, Georgie. Just like your brother." One drawing was of a two-headed brontosaurus labeled "Twinasaurus". There was another drawing of a tap-dancing giraffe performing a show while a gorilla played piano. Another one was of a fly with a bowtie and spats labeled "Mr. Fly".

"Thank you. I wanna make cartoons someday."

"I'm sure you'll make it big," Stan smiled. After he finished his bowl of ice cream, he looked up at Georgie's face and saw that the boy's mouth and chin were completely covered in sticky chocolate ice cream. "Georgie, look at you! You're a complete mess." Stan couldn't help but laugh at the sight.

"Guess that means it's bath time!" Georgie said excitedly.

"Oh, right." Stan forgot about Georgie's bath, mainly because he didn't want to do it. He didn't expect Georgie himself would bring it up. "So, is that, like, something you can do by yourself?"

"Well, normally either Billy or my mom are with me. I've never taken a bath on my own."

"Okay." That was out of the question for Stan. If his parents didn't want Georgie taking a bath by himself, he didn't want to be the first person to let him do so. He didn't want to be held accountable for anything. "Here's the thing…I don't really want to see you naked. That's just weird. So…sorry, but I guess you'll just have to be dirty for tonight."

"What if I just went in my undies?"

"I…guess that could work." The truth was, Stan didn't want to deal with bath time at all. He was just trying to make excuses. But now it seemed like he had no choice.

He and Georgie walked upstairs to the bathroom. Stan started running the water and waited for it to warm up. Once it did, he put in the plug and waited for the tub to fill up. Meanwhile, Georgie took off all his clothes excepting his tighty-whities.

"I still don't see the problem in letting you take a bath by yourself, but whatever," Stan said. "Just please don't do anything gross, Georgie. I don't want to see any floating boogers, and I don't want you peeing in the tub or making your own 'bubbles' in the water."

"Come on, Stan, you really think I would do that stuff?"

"I know you wouldn't be above any of that. I know you, Georgie. All too well."

Georgie giggled as he stepped into the tub. "Can you put in some bubble soap, please?"

"Sure." Stan poured in some bubble bath soap into the running water, causing massive amounts of white, puffy foam to rise up. He shut off the faucet, grabbed the shampoo, and started lathering Georgie's hair.

Georgie played with his rubber ducky and toy boat as Stan continued to shampoo his hair. "When do you think Billy will be back?" He asked Stan.

"I'm not sure. He didn't give an exact time. But it's getting close to your bedtime, so you may not see him tonight."

"Aww. I miss him already. Not that I don't like you, though. I do. It's just that Billy is my best friend."

"Yeah, no, I get it. Yeah, Bill's…I think Bill's my best friend, too. I mean, I think you're  _his_  best friend. Wish I could say the same thing about myself." Stan softly chuckled.

"Really? You think I'm his best friend?"

"Well…yeah. He loves you more than anyone else. I can tell. Even more than Beverly," Stan laughed.

Georgie laughed, too. "I hope that doesn't mean he'll start dating  _me_!"

"Believe me, you don't have to worry about that happening. No, what I mean is that it's a brotherly love. You know how you love him as a friend? As a brother? As family? He feels that way about you, too."

"He told you that?"

"No. No, it's just…something I picked up on, I guess." Stan cupped his hands and took a scoop of water, then dumped the water on top of Georgie's head to rinse the shampoo. He repeated it several times until it was all rinsed off.

"I'm sure you're one of his best friends, too!" Georgie said. "Maybe second to me."

"I don't know about that."

"Maybe Beverly is second, then. But you're number three, definitely!"

"What makes you say that?"

"Mmm, I don't know. I guess it's like you said; it's just something I picked up on."

"Huh." It dawned on Stan at this moment how bizarre this whole situation was. Here he was, having a conversation with a seven-year-old that he wasn't even related to, talking about how special his older brother was to both of them. All while he was washing said seven-year-old in the bathtub. But somehow, he was enjoying it. It made him see Georgie for the person he was, rather than just the little brother of his best friend. Perhaps he had underestimated him before.

"Alright, well, I think it's time for you to get out now, Georgie," Stan said. He pulled out the plug from the drain and picked up a nearby towel to dry Georgie off.

"What do you want to do now?" Georgie said as he wrapped the towel around himself and stepped out of the tub.

Stan looked at his watch. "Well, it's time for you to go to bed. It's eight o'clock."

"Aww! I don't want to go to bed!"

"I know, sorry, but that's what your mom asked me to do. Let's get you dressed in your PJs, then we'll get you to bed."

The two of them walked to Georgie's room, and Stan got out Georgie's dinosaur pajamas and a fresh, dry pair of underwear from his dresser. "You can get dressed by yourself, right?" Stan asked.

"Yeah, I can! Don't worry about me," Georgie said rather proudly.

"Great, just let me know when you're done." Stan shut his bedroom door and waited for him to get dressed.

"Okay, I'm done!" Georgie said from the other side of the door.

Stan entered again. "Alright, time for you to get into bed," he said. Georgie jumped into his bed and pulled the covers over himself.

Georgie looked to his side and realized something was missing. He gasped. "Quinton and Toby!"

"Who?"

"My elephant and turtle. I left them downstairs, and I can't sleep without them."

"No problem; I can go get them." Stan quickly went downstairs, picked up the two plush toys from the couch in the living room, and quickly went back upstairs into Georgie's room.

"Thank you!" Georgie said as Stan gave him the two stuffed animals. Stan turned around to go turn off the lights before Georgie stopped him, "Wait! Aren't you going to tuck me in?"

Stan turned back. "Oh. Um, I don't know. I don't really do tuck-ins. Not my style."

"Please, tuck me in, Stanny?" Georgie looked up at Stan with his pleading "puppy-dog eyes". It was hard for Stan to refuse then. "If you can give me bath, you can tuck me in."

"Okay, I guess." Stan pulled Georgie's covers up to his neck, then started tucking the blanket underneath the mattress. "There you go," Stan said.

"I had fun with you tonight, Stan. Thank you for being with me."

"Aw, no problem, little buddy. I had fun with you tonight, too."

As Stan went over to switch off the lights, Georgie reminded him, "Don't forget to turn on the nightlight."

"Oh, right." Stan turned on a little Mickey Mouse nightlight plugged in against the wall. Then he proceeded to flip the main light switch, plunging the room in darkness except for the little orange glow of the nightlight. "Goodnight, Georgie."

"Goodnight, Stanny."

Stan closed the door to his bedroom, then went downstairs to wait for Bill's parents to come home. He had enjoyed this night more than he expected to. True, it was a little awkward at first, but Stan quickly found his footing in how to deal with Georgie in his own way. It wasn't how Bill interacted with Georgie, but it was just as valid. And hey, he made some money out of it as well. Maybe Stan could get used to this gig.


End file.
